Moments In Time
by Paige Darke
Summary: Series of short stories, oneshots and ficlets. From all different characters. Some are canon, some are AU, some are completely random. Past, present, only one particular arc in chronological order. They go up in the order I write them.
1. Blood And Snow

_Blood And Snow_

Sesshomaru has always known his place – he will be the one that comes after his father, the one who rules once his father dies.

He no longer holds to the ideals that he had as a very young child – that his father was invincible, that, as his father's son, nothing could do him harm, because his father would always be there.

No, those illusions are long shattered, left in fragments by screams and rough human laughter and the smell of blood on snow.

When his father takes the human woman, Izayoi, he is enraged, the first real show of emotion he has had in a great many years. When his father responds, very simply, to his son's demands – _Why, Father? Why take in this human wench? –_ Sesshomaru is shocked, then resigned.

_I love her, Sesshomaru._

In his mind, Sesshomaru sees his mother die, smells fresh blood on snow.

He turns away from his father. _She will be your downfall. That woman and the mongrel she carries will take you to your grave. You will die because of them._

His father's words follow him as he walks away.

_Then I will die._

End

My first attempt at Inuyasha fanfiction. There might be more drabbles in the future, I'm not sure. If so, this is where they'll go.


	2. Siling Rivalry

_Sibling Rivalry_

Once Koga was grown, once his father was dead, once he had rid himself of them, very few people outside of the pack knew that he wasn't an only child.

His sister and brother – both older, both, he felt, better loved then he – were cast out in the wake of his father's death.

It hurts to look at them so soon – so soon after his father's death; so loved, so respected, and he had tried so hard to please him _and I'm still second best, I'll always be second-best, I'll never be _her – and so soon after that of his mother, slain in battle next to his father – _you were, too, weren't you, Mother? Always second best, second-best to a half-breed, a mongrel, a _nothing – and so he tells them to leave, tells them he never wanted them there to begin with.

When his sister looks at him, regards him with eyes that are beautiful and sad and half-dead – _Whatever you want, Koga, you lead here now _– he nearly takes it back, nearly says he doesn't mean it, nearly asks her to come back.

But she's already gone.

So he tells them they're better off without them, they'll be fine, just wait and see – _and in the back of his mind, the memories are there, playing over and over, Shirokiba laughing at his antics, Kiare there with soft words to urge him to sleep while his parents were gone –_ and sometimes, when he comes to the spot by the river where they played with him when he was young, he thinks of them.

And he misses them, and sometimes he wishes he could take it back.

But he can never find the words.

End

A/N – Koga's brother and sister are purely of my own invention. Creative license. You know how it goes. They will crop up again, as I have several other little ficlets and one much longer tale involving both of them.


	3. What's In A Name?

_What's In A Name?_

"You know," she says, the one who he currently considers the bane of his existence, "I think it's your name."

"You think what is my name?" he asks, although sometimes he wonders if she thinks.

"The reason you have a homicidal streak," she replies, spinning her sword through her hands. The blade is unsheathed, and he's awaiting the inevitable moment when she slices open her hand. "I mean, come on. _Killing perfection_? Either it's your name, or your mother was psychic."

"It's nothing of the sort," he replies.

"Hmm," she says. "You know, they say names have a lot to do with forming our personalities. I think it's crap. I mean, my name is nonsense, for the gods' sake."

And that, he thinks, is an excellent argument for what they say.

"I was not named until I was three months old," Sesshomaru replies.

"What, you could crawl and you started whacking things?" she asks. She finally sheaths her sword, stepping up next to him. "That fits what I know of your personality, that's for sure."

"You are right."

She laughs. The sound is bright and startling in the still, hot afternoon. Rin lifts her head from the field of flowers and gives Kiare a confused look. "Figures," she says, and rises to her feet.

End

A/N – Again, this is Koga's sister. How she ends up traveling with Sesshomaru is another tale entirely.


	4. Life Giver

_Life Giver_

_Foolish humans._

They attack him without a second thought, only that he is in between them and the half-demon they mean to kill, the one they think they _need_ to kill.

It is not the mongrel that concerns him. He hears no heartbeat, no breath. She is dead, but Rin is beside her. Rin is protecting the one who tried to protect her.

So he raises one clawed hand, the energy whip forming there, and slays them without a second thought.

He turns, looks at Rin, looks at the dead creature in front of her. "Come away, Rin."

Rin raises her tear-streaked face, clutching one bloody hand in hers. "Can't you help, my Lord?" she asks.

At his side, Tenseiga pulses. He grits his teeth. He wants to swear, curse his father for giving him this useless thing. He wants to toss it aside and turn his back and walk away.

Instead, he draws the sword from its sheath, regards it. He turns to the dead woman, narrows his eyes, seeing them, the pall-bearers of the Underworld. "Move back, Rin."

Rin scrambles back, and he swings the blade, slicing through them with ease. And her heart begins to beat.

_Once again, Tenseiga, you have compelled me to save a life. Of what use is the mongrel to me?_

What he does not know is that these words will haunt him.

End

A/N – A brief sort of explanation as to how Kiare ends up running around with Sesshomaru and the others.


	5. Smile

_Smile_

When he thinks back to that day, over the many centuries that span the rest of his life – _and he thinks of it so much, too much, it is a scene branded to his memory –_ it is not the scent of blood he remembers, or that of the freshly fallen snow, or the stench of the men, the humans, that killed her.

He does not immediately recall hearing Sesshomaru's anguished cry, rushing to their side. He does not immediately think of So'unga slipping from his grasp, or the sight of his son, clutching his mother's lifeless hand in his own, his face pressed to her bloody hair. The first thing he remembers is not whispering his son's name – _Sesshomaru, oh gods, my son – _or of clutching the shaking, dry-eyed boy to him.

What he remembers is leaving them, wrapping his arms around his wife and holding her for a moment – _not long enough, why couldn't I have held her longer, why didn't I stay, my men could have done the patrol without me – _breathing in the scent of her long white hair and her soft skin. He remembers ruffling Sesshomaru's hair, the slight grimace the only sign the boy gave of his distaste for the gesture.

He remembers looking back at them, watching her laugh and smooth Sesshomaru's hair – _there was no grimace for her, no look of distaste, gods, how that boy loved her _– and seeing Sesshomaru smile, truly smile, at his mother.

It will occur to him, so many times over the centuries – that was the last time he saw his son smile.

End

A/N – A thought I had. A rather depressing one, actually. Focuses on Inutaisho and Sesshomaru simply because…they intrigue me, and Sesshomaru is my favorite character. Why? 'Cause he's cool, in more ways than one.


	6. First Sight

_First Sight_

The first time he sees her, she means nothing to him – she's just another half-breed, just a mongrel, a nothing – and it will be centuries before their paths cross again.

She is standing at the edge of their encampment, nothing more than a child – _But those are not a child's eyes –_ with blood in long silver-streaked hair and blood on her clothes.

She speaks to one of his father's soldiers, Kiaotsuo – _She's dead. My grandmother, your wife…she's dead. The villagers cast us out. We have nowhere to go – _and he watches with detachment as the expressions flit over Kiaotsuo's face.

He is surprised when the other demon turns his back, turns away – _there's no place for you here, either, girl –_ and the mongrel's face is shocked, saddened, angry.

Her clawed fists clench, and her wolf-like ears flatten against her skull. Her eyes narrow at the soldier's back, and for a brief moment her eyes flare red.

_I don't know how you managed to convince Grandmother you were some goddamn paragon of good! Look at you! You turn your back on you own family! Shirokiba could be dying, and you turn us out! Fine. Turn us out to die, you fucking coward!_

Without turning, Kiaotsou draws his sword, the Hellblade, from his sash and tosses it back. It lands at the girl's feet, and then he continues walking.

The girl leaves, but she takes the sword.

Kiaotsou dies that night, and Sesshomaru grieves, but little. He wonders, in the back of his mind, if he knew, if that is why he surrendered his sword to the bloody and angry girl. _Or were you simply in such a hurry to join your human mate in death you got careless?_

There are no answers. He has learned not to expect any.

End

A/N – further explanation of Kiare.


	7. Vengeance

_Vengeance_

On the day they bury his wife, he cannot find his son.

The lady – _my wife, gods, my _life – has been laid to rest, and her son has vanished.

Inutaisho is afraid he knows exactly where his son has gone.

He follows the scent, through the forest, across the river. The familiar scent of his son, a combination of his own and that of the woman he just buried, the one he spent nearly three centuries beside, nearly brings tears to his eyes.

He blinks them back and runs.

He finds Sesshomaru, at the edge of the human village. He is still and silent, the only motion that of his long, silver-white hair. Not even half a century old, and the hair is past his shoulders.

Inutaisho stops, stares; sees the blood – _so red, gods, human blood, Sesshomaru, what have you _done – that turns the white robes nearly the color of rubies. There is blood on his face, his hands, in his hair.

He speaks, his voice choked with pain and horror and loss.

_Sesshomaru, what have you done?_

His son turns and looks at him, regards him with amber eyes that are like his own, but emotionless.

_What you would not._

End

A/N – a little reaction piece. Yikes. I need a Lithium prescription, or something.


	8. Belief

_Belief_

Kiare stops believing in miracles when her mother dies. She stops believing in hope, in love, in childhood – she stops believing in life.

When her father remarries, she is bitter. He does not love this woman, she can see it. But he needs an heir, and the wolves will not follow her, or Shirokiba.

When her brother is born, she is happy. She believes again, in the little things – love, hope, childhood.

When her father dies, she is angry. How could he leave them at a time like this? How could he leave them when they needed him the most?

When Koga casts them out, her heart breaks. But she does not show it. _Why_? She thinks. There is nothing to show, because there is nothing left.

She no longer believes.

When Kiare dies, she is relieved. There is some part of her that is happy –_is this what it's like to be at peace? Is this what it's like to not have to worry? – _and she wants so badly to be at peace.

When she is resurrected, she is confused, lost.

But in her resurrection, she finds hope, and love, and life. There is a little girl there, a girl who brings light to her life once more, who makes her think _maybe I was wrong after all, maybe there is life out there _and this makes her happy again.

When the girl dies, she is enraged, and then she is broken. They say that time heals all wounds. They are wrong. This wound will never fully heal. And once more, her hope is gone.

When time passes, and with it, the wars and the famines and the plagues and all the other human things, she looks at the face of the one who saved her, the one who gave her that light and life and hope, and she feels her heart pounding. She looks at that emotionless face, and it will bring back everything she lost, and she believes again.

When Kiare falls in love, she truly knows despair.

End

A/N – Introspection on an original character. Prozac, anyone? Help me, I think I'm broken.


	9. Falling

_Falling_

Sesshomaru has never understood this obsession humans have with clouding their senses, dulling what little instincts they have, drowning themselves in rice wine or whatever other method of intoxication happens to be handy.

He understands it even less when demons indulge themselves in such a manner.

What he does understand is that Kiare is drunk. Not a little tipsy, not slightly intoxicated, but out and out, falling down, if she were human she'd be emptying her stomach _drunk_.

He watches with fascination as she attempts to put one foot in front of the other, like she's walking a tightrope, balanced precariously on the edge of the bridge.

She stumbles, nearly falls. "Whoopsie."

He is aware of how, every time she stumbles, nearly falls, he braces himself to catch her, and he is very nearly disgusted with himself. He does not truly understand the hold this half-breed, this _mongrel_, has over him. But he does know he doesn't like it. He also knows there is a part of him that would perhaps be lost without her.

She stumbles again, drops into a crouch and waves her arms ridiculously for balance. And then laughs insanely.

He allows himself to relax. "You are going to fall," he warns.

She looks back at him, tilts her head curiously, then smiles, an oddly gentle expression. "You are delightfully clueless," she says. "Don't you know I already have?"

She hops down from the railing and walks away from him, weaving horribly.

He does not understand her.

End

A/N – I don't know which individual I pity more, honestly.


	10. Grief

_Grief_

Inutaisho has done a horrible thing, he knows.

Horrible, at least, in the eyes of his son, and in the eyes of many of his men.

He has taken a human wife.

They do not understand the appeal. There are moments he doesn't, either.

But Izayoi is sweet, and gentle, and generous, and completely unlike Yukishima. He loves her, and, for a moment, perhaps, she can dull the ache in his heart, the one that hasn't left him since he found his wife in the snow, his son clutching her hand and screaming.

It is something he will never forget.

Sesshomaru seems to think that Izayoi is there to somehow usurp Yukishima's memory. How, he often wonders, could his son think that, when not a day goes by when she is not on his mind?

Izayoi is in his heart, yes, and she always will be. He loves her, but there is no love in the world that could make him forget his first wife.

She gave him his son.

And there are moments, though he thinks less of himself for them, when he lay next to his human wife, listening to her deep, even breathing as she sleeps, and he misses her. Even while Izayoi sleeps peacefully in his arms, he misses his first wife, the demon who held his heart, and he grieves.

Not just for the loss of a wife, but for the loss of his son, who will never forgive him.

End

A/N – Again, I'm depressing. But hasn't this occurred to anyone else? (crickets chirp) …Er, right.


	11. Night And Day

_Night and Day_

There are moments when Inuyasha's friends, as deeply as he loves them, drive him insane. There are moments when he wants to scream _will you just shut up? None of you know anything about how I feel! How can you give me advice when you two fools can't even admit you love each other?_

They seem to think that he's going out of his way to hurt Kagome. He knows nothing is further from the truth. He loves Kagome. He would die for her, he would wait forever for her.

She is bright, and beautiful, and innocent, and everything Kikyo isn't.

But he loves Kikyo, too. She was his first love, one of the first who didn't treat him like a freak who needed to be put down. She was a balm to his wounded soul.

She was calm, and soothing, and peaceful, and everything Kagome isn't.

They are night and day. They are yin and yang; left and right; two sides of the same coin; every trite and overused cliché he can think of.

They are the two sides of his heart.

How can he choose between his heart, and his heart? How can he choose, when he loves them both?

How can they not understand? How can they say that they accept him, that they know him, that they understand him, when they don't even understand that?

He looks down at his sword, resting in the crook of his arm. Then he straightens, and watches the sun rise, bringing the new day.

He has promises to keep.

End

A/N – Hopefully not as morbid as the rest. Heh.


	12. Cage

_Cage_

One of Inuyasha's earliest memories is of the village, where he lived with his mother.

In this memory, he is no more than five. It is the new moon, and he is human. They had not managed to make it home before the change set in, and the villagers pull him away from his hysterical mother.

They fence him in, cage him like some kind of exotic animal on display for their amusement. They are waiting, they say, waiting for the sun to rise so they can watch him change back.

He can hear his mother crying, hear her calling for them to let him go, _please, let him go, he's just a child, what has he done?_

One of the men, a small, horrible man, approaches his mother. Inuyasha starts to yell, to scream, _leave her alone! Mama! _

The man touches Izayoi, trails his fingers down her face, then down her throat.

Suddenly, the man is jerked back, his hands going to his throat, his eyes wide in horror.

It is the first time Inuyasha sees blood.

The villagers fall silent. There is a stranger there, someone he has never seen before. This person, this man, this _demon_, has long, silvery-white hair, and there are markings on his face. His cool amber gaze seems to regard, weigh and measure and dismiss, since they are not worthy of his attention.

He turns that gaze to Inuyasha, and the boy feels the same thing the villagers must have, the thought that he is being measured and judged and found wanting, but he doesn't know why.

The stranger steps forward, stops in front of his makeshift prison. One hand flashes out, and the bamboo falls away, and he is free.

He steps back, away from this terrifying specter, hunching around his fragile human body.

The stranger says one thing – _Inuyasha._

Inuyasha blinks up at him, regards this frightening stranger, and then his mother steps forward, lays one small hand on the stranger's white sleeve. _My Lord…_

_So this is what our father died for. _

His mother flinches, and Inuyasha dives in front of her, clutching her kimono in his tiny hands. The stranger looks at both of them for a long moment, then turns to regard the villagers. _This will not happen again,_ and then he walks away, and he does not look back.

_Mother? Mama? Who was that man?_

_Inuyasha…that was Sesshomaru, your father's older son. That was your brother._

Inuyasha stares after Sesshomaru's retreating figure as he vanishes back into the forest, and decides he doesn't like him very much.

End

A/N – For Kat Hawkins – a compromise. Since _Rebellions_ is going about as well as _HP & the Middle-Earthians_, I wrote a ficlet featuring Inuyasha. Of course, I threw Sesshomaru in there too, so it's a half-assed compromise, but it works, right?


	13. Beads

_Beads_

Inuyasha thinks about the rosary around his neck. At first, it enrages him. They thought they could capture him, cage him, tame him? He may have dog ears, but he is no pet.

After a while, he comes to accept their reasoning. After all, he _had_ tried to kill her when they first met. Kagome had reasons not to trust him.

Finally, after he saves her skin enough times, she says she does. She trusts him. She knows he won't hurt her.

_Then why won't you take this damn thing off?_ he thinks bitterly, but does not say.

It is there for her protection, so he can't stop her from going home when she needs to, not so she can take out all of her issues and aggressions and do him more damage with five words than Sesshomaru has managed to do in nearly two hundred years.

And he is so grateful his brother hasn't seen the miracle of the rosary. He's never seen Sesshomaru laugh, or even smile, but there's a first time for everything, right?

He knows – sometimes he can be a real ass, and sometimes he deserves it, because, really, it is the only way she can retaliate. He's stronger, and faster, and she can't hurt him.

He reaches up and strokes the beads, wishing they were gone, wishing he was free. Not free to leave them, but able to retaliate against Shippo without being sat until he was black and blue from head to toe. _Gods, can't she see the little shit deserves it sometimes?_

Mostly, however, he wishes he could believe she trusts him. He wishes she knew she didn't have to keep him chained to keep him by her side.

He knows the reasons why, but he hates those beads all the same.

End

A/N – OK, this one really _is_ for Kat. Hasn't anyone else ever wondered what he really thinks about that damn thing? And come on, Kagome can be seriously unfair about it. Just like Miroku, Shippo, and Sango can be seriously unfair about the whole Kikyo thing.


	14. Last Shard

_Last Shard_

Naraku is destroyed. The field of battle is silent.

They are gathered around him, the one who has the last shard of the Shikon Jewel, the one who will die when it is removed.

Sango is shaking her head frantically, her hair falling out of its high tail and tumbling into her tear-streaked face. Miroku has a gentle hand on her shoulder.

_Then what the hell did we do all this for? Why did we go through hell and back to get the damn shards? It's Kohaku's decision, Sango, not yours!_

Kohaku thinks he has never been so grateful to anyone as he is to Inuyasha in that moment.

_Please_, Sango whispers. _Please. I can't loose him again._

Silence falls again, no one willing to make the first move.

_Do it._

His voice, weak, faltering, choked with tears, breaks it. _Take it. Please. You must. You have to complete the Jewel, otherwise all of this has been for nothing. If you let me live like this, Naraku has won._

Kagome starts to cry silently, the tears rolling down her face.

Kohaku turns his head, regards the one person who has always greeted him with a smile in the last year. But even her sunny face is solemn. He tries to smile for her, barely manages, and is relieved when she returns the gesture, even if her smile is sad and there are tears in her dark eyes and she's clutching her 'father's' sleeve for all she's worth.

Kagome stumbles forward, pulls the shard from his back.

Darkness closes in, and he is relieved. Finally, it is over. He does not want to die, he does not want to cause Sango more pain; he wants nothing more than to see his sister smile again.

The last thing he sees is a clawed hand, drawing a sword;

and Sesshomaru steps forward.

Rin smiles.

End

A/N – Weird. Just weird. I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not. It's abstract, but I like it.


	15. First Horror Of A Teenage Daughter

_The First Horror of Having a Teenage Daughter_

It is a warm day, bright and pleasant. Kiare is relaxed against Ah-Un, Jaken is plucking the petals from a flower – he does not ask why; he's not sure he wants to know – and Rin is bathing, after a fall into a puddle.

It is a peaceful, idyllic scene; shattered by Rin's scream.

He is on his feet and running in an instant, Tokijin in hand; Kiare isn't far behind him.

Rin is standing waist deep in the pool, staring at herself in horror.

"Rin," he says, more sharply than he had intended. "What's wrong? Are you injured?"

She stutters for a moment, and something like fear slices through his heart. That is one thing Rin has never had trouble with – she can always find words. In fact, she usually finds too many.

"I'm bleeding!" she yells suddenly, flopping down into the water. "From – from – from _there_, and I'm going to bleed to death! My Lord, what do I do? What's wrong with me?"

He can say nothing, for a long moment. This is something he is not prepared to handle. Fortunately, Kiare does it for him.

"…Oh." She steps forward, slipping off her outer kimono and stepping into the water, wrapping it around the shaking girl's shoulders. "You're not going to die, honey, I promise."

Rin stares up at her with wide, hopeful eyes. "Really? Do you know what's wrong with me? Is it going to go away?"

"Sure," Kiare replies dryly. "In about a week. It's natural, honey – don't worry about it." She smoothes back Rin's messy, tangled, wet hair, then turns to look at Sesshomaru. "All right, this is an 'only girls' thing – wanna take off?"

He nods, suddenly grateful for her presence. He turns his back and walks away stiffly. _Next thing you know, she's going to be asking where pups come from,_ he thinks, and winces. _Perhaps I am grateful we found the mongrel after all._

End

A/N – Heh. Fatherhood.


	16. Word Association

_Word Association_

"Oh, come on, Inuyasha! It's not going to kill you, and it'll help me with my class!"

"Fine! Fine! What is this, again? Is it gonna take long?"

"No, it'll be quick! I promise!" ((ruffling pages)) "It's called word association. It's for one of my classes. I say a word, and you say the first word that pops into your head."

"…Heh. Better give him some time to think first."

((Thump!)) "Ahh! Kagome!"

"Don't you dare sit me! He deserved that one!"

((muffled scream)) "Just help me out here! Please!"

"All right, all right, get started already."

"Fine!" ((more ruffling pages)) "OK. First word. Tree."

"Sleep."

"Green."

"Kagome."

"What?"

"What? It's the color you always wear!"

((blush.)) "Oh. Fox."

"Kit."

"Brother."

"Bastard."

"Arrow."

((pained look)) "Betrayal."

"Death."

"…Mother."

((pause)) "Oh, Inuyasha, I'm so sorry. We can stop."

"I thought you said you needed this for your class. Hurry up already."

"OK. Mother."

"Fragile."

((blinkblink))

"What? She was, wasn't she?"

"I guess. Sword."

"Fang."

"…This is going to look so weird. Dark."

"Human."

"Demon."

"Hopefully."

"Inuyasha!"

"What? All right, all right. Scared. Happy now?"

"_Thank_ you. Sit."

"Gah!"

((snicker)) "How do you think you spell that, Kagome?"

"Oh, Inuyasha, I'm sorry! It's on the sheet! Really!"

"Just get it over with."

"Um…beads."

"Chained."

"Holy."

"Priestess."

"Grandmother."

"Kaede."

"Oh, Inuyasha…"

"Will you stop, already? Are we done yet?"

"There are six more."

"Oh, gods. Kill me now."

"Father."

"Sword."

"Kill."

"Naraku. Koga. Sesshomaru."

"It says the first one."

"Pick one. They all came at the same time."

"Yikes. Red."

"Kimono."

"Iris."

"Ayame."

"_What_?"

"She always wears the damn iris in her hair! Gods, Kagome, take a break from freaking out, will you?"

((huffy voice)) "Pearl."

"Eye."

"…I'd forgotten about that. Food."

"Ramen."

"This is going to look _really_ weird. And the last word. Water."

"Wet. Can I go now?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, Miroku? Are you busy?"

A/N – This is completely random. Really.

Way, way belated disclaimer – I own nothing, save the characters I create myself, which are, I hope, fairly obvious. I am making no money. If you want to sue, you can have my debts and my collection of jacked BK hats. (Oops.)


	17. Joyous Day

_Joyous Day_

It was a joyous day, they all agreed. That day, the younger brother of the head slayer had been married, to a beautiful, laughing girl who had been raised in the wilderness by a demon lord.

It was, they all agreed, a strange match.

The groom, nervous, stuttering, blushing; and the bride, breath-taking in a beautiful, silk wedding kimono…and bare feet.

Later, they all gathered around, eating and drinking sake and showering the blushing couple with congratulations.

One of the villagers, drinking sake, took a look around. "Heh. I see that demon left, thank the gods."

Kiare and Inuyasha exchange glances.

"He's not big on crowds," Kiare says dryly.

"He's not big on _people_," Inuyasha adds.

"Prefers the company of his own kind, probably," the man says.

There's a pause.

"No, he doesn't like them much, either," Kiare replies. She leans over to Inuyasha and whispers. "What does he think we are? Does he think the ears are part of our hairstyles, or what?"

Inuyasha shrugs.

"You should be more careful of your words, young man," Priestess Kaede says. "That demon ye speak of his the father of the bride."

The man spits sake all over her.

End

A/N – Hee.


	18. It's Just an Anime

_It's Just An Anime_

"This isn't supposed to be real, is it?" Inuyasha asks, peering at the TV.

Kagome sighs and glares at her math book. "No, Inuyasha," she sighs. "It's not real. It's just an anime."

"Good, 'cause that guy's hair is kinda scary," he said, pointing at a muscular man with hair that stood straight up, flame-style. "And if anybody had that many muscles, they couldn't walk."

Kagome opens her mouth to mention the Terminator movies – Arnold Schwarzenegger is that big, if not bigger – but closes it again. It's not worth the explaining.

"And listen to that voice," he continues. "It sounds like he tried to eat my sword."

Kagome rubs her temples. _Gods,_ she thinks, _it's just an anime._

-- break --

"What _is _this crap?" her father asks.

"It's just an anime, Dad," she huffs back. "I think the lead guy's kinda cute."

"Just an anime? Good. He has dog ears."

"Dad, it's just an anime."

Vegeta grunts. "And what's with that sword?"

Bulla sighs and rubs her temples. _God_, she thinks, _it's just an anime._

End

A/N – Author request. Thank my fiancé.


	19. Fanfiction

_Fanfiction_

"Love, what are you doing?"

I grin and lean back in my chair. "Enjoying a computer while I can. I actually found a pretty good bit of fiction online."

"Fiction?" he echoes, giving the computer a wide berth. He doesn't trust machines.

"You know, make-believe. It's about this show I used to watch on TV. One of the drawn ones – you know, cartoons?"

"Yes?"

"Got a pretty cool original character." I grin. "I love a kickass female."

"Melisse, I never would have guessed."

I nod. "It's about time Sesshomaru found somebody to keep him in line," I say, and then laugh at the expression on his face.

---

Kiare is settled into one of the chairs in Sesshomaru's vast library. One of the great things about the demon lord, in her opinion, was his ability to hoard his wealth. She didn't mind enjoying the little luxuries that came with his money.

The computer was one of two in the house, and she'd had to fight fang and claw to get it. The only other one was in Sesshomaru's office. He knew how to use it, but that didn't mean he liked to.

She was currently giggling her way through a piece of _Lord of the Rings _fanfiction.

"What ails you?" Jaken demanded, poking his head out from under his feather duster.

He looked ridiculous with feathers on his head.

"Nothing," she says. "I just found a cool story online." She grins. "Gotta love a kickass female."

End

A/N – Blame Nate.


	20. Word Association, Miroku

_Word Association: Miroku_

"Hey, Miroku, are you busy?"

"Not at all, Kagome. What do you need?"

((rustling pages)) "It's for one of my classes. I say a word, and then you say the first word that comes into your head."

"Hmm. All right."

"Tree."

"Leaf."

"Green."

"Kagome."

((quiet voice)) "'Cause it's the color I always wear."

"Yes."

"O-K. Fox."

"Kitsune."

"Brother."

"Battle."

"Battle?"

"It seems like every time we see someone's brother, there's a battle."

"Arrow."

"Pure."

"Death."

((hard voice)) "Naraku."

"Mother."

"Unknown."

"You never knew your mother?"

"She died in childbirth. I don't know much of her, since my father didn't like to speak of her."

((pause)) "I'm sorry."

"Dear Kagome. That's so –"

"Don't even try it, buster."

"Kagome! Does this face look like it would think dirty thoughts?"

"Yes."

"…Oh."

"Sword."

"Battle."

"Dark."

"Void."

"Demon."

"Battle."

"Sit."

((muffled laughter.)) "Inuyasha."

"Yeah, he had a hard time with that one. Beads."

((pause))((sound of clenching fist)) "Wind Tunnel."

"Holy."

"Priestess."

"Huh. You actually agreed with Inuyasha on something."

((sly grin))

"Of course, that could be because you like my butt."

"My dear Kagome!"

"Save it, buster. Grandmother."

"Kaede." ((pause)) "Shippo always calls her Grandmother Kaede."

"Father."

"Cursed."

"Kill."

"Naraku."

"Well, that's sort of three you two agree on. Well, he said Koga and Sesshomaru, too. Red."

((pause)) "Sango."

"Iris."

"Ayame." ((pause)) "She always has an iris in her hair."

"I'm surprised you noticed her hair, considering how short her fur skirt is."

((embarrassed silence))

"That's what I thought. Pearl."

((embarrassed silence)) "We don't have to say the _very_ first thing that pops into our heads, do we?"

"Yes."

((sigh)) "Sango."

"Awww."

((embarrassed shuffling))

((clears throat)) "Food."

"Future."

"This is going to look _so_ weird. Water."

"Blue. Is that everything."

"Yeah. Thanks, Miroku. Hey, Sango?"

End

A/N – And he managed to keep his perversions to a minimum! Yay for Miroku!


	21. Unappreciated

_Unappreciated_

All right. A sword can only take so much.

You just had to go and die, didn't you? Now I'm stuck with the unappreciative _whelp,_ your ungrateful offspring, after being stuck in your ribs for who knows how many years.

With this little punk, it's always _do this, do that, break the barrier, hit the mangy wolf with your Windscar, _yadda, yadda, yadda. The same thing, fight after fight, battle after battle.

And do _I_ ever get the credit?

No.

Lousy little braggart.

You could have left me to Sesshomaru. Now, _there_ was someone who would have appreciated what I was really capable of. I thought, you know, _maybe_, after the older pup showed him how to use me, he would have figured it out, but nooo.

No offense, Inutaisho, but your younger son is denser than lead.

Oh, well. I could have it worse, I guess.

Tensaiga is even less appreciated than I am.

End

A/N – Poor Tetsuseiga. Author has officially gone off deep end.


	22. Fading Dreams

_Fading Dreams_

Miroku is an itinerant monk. He spends his life, after his father dies, wandering the land, searching for the demon who cursed his grandfather.

He often thinks, if his life ever makes it into the tales, that would be a decent beginning of the story.

He hopes they'll edit it a little. Hopefully, they'll at least leave out the part where he gropes Kagome in front of Inuyasha.

He is cursed, a Wind Tunnel in his right hand. He is also cursed with wandering attentions and wandering hands, although many of the women around him will argue that they are the ones cursed. At least when he's awake.

He is also in love.

She is a demon exterminator, a woman who has known great pain and suffering, and has survived and become all the stronger for it.

He admires her.

She drives him insane.

He does not want to hurt her, but he fears it's inevitable. There are moments when he dreams of them being happy, of them growing old together.

But then he looks at his hands, and all dreams fade.

End

A/N – Depressing. Sorry. I have a knack for it.


	23. Lucky

_Lucky_

When Kaede is young, she lives with her sister. Kikyo is a priestess, and the villagers adore her. She is calm, and sweet, and patient, and Kaede thinks her sister very lucky.

Later, when Kikyo introduces her to Inuyasha, Kaede is hesitant. But then she sees the way Inuyasha looks at Kikyo – and the way Kikyo looks at Inuyasha – she is a touch envious, and thinks Kikyo lucky.

When Kikyo says she can make Inuyasha human, so that they can have a life together, Kaede smiles. She is overjoyed, truly happy for one of the first times in her life. She knows that Kikyo and Inuyasha will be happy together, and they will have children. Kaede looks forward to being an aunt.

But Kikyo is betrayed, and Inuyasha takes the Jewel. Her sister limps back to the village, blood seeping through her white garments. She retrieves her bow, and follows the half-demon.

All this goes through Kaede's mind, as she kneels next to her sister, watching Kikyo die. She clutches the priestess's hand, tears rolling down her face. _Sister Kikyo…_

As they burn her, Kaede thinks perhaps Kikyo was not so lucky, after all.

End

A/N – Depressing again. Sorry.


	24. Leader

_Leader_

Even though he is the youngest – younger even than Jakotsu – they all accept Bankotsu as their leader. He is not as smart as Renkotsu, or as strong as Kyokotsu, and he doesn't have the machinery tricks of Ginkotsu or the Mukotsu's poisons.

All he has on his side is strength, courage, and Banryu.

Every once in awhile, he'll look at his comrades, and he'll wonder why they constantly follow him, why they obey his orders without question. Renkotsu would make a better leader, they think – he is the most intelligent, the most cunning, and he is always the one who fine-tunes their plans.

But they look to _him_, and he nearly constantly wonders why. Granted, Renkotsu's ruthless, and if it came to his own hide or that of his comrades, he'd choose his own every time. Kyokotsu couldn't think his way out of a box, even one with a door and an exit sign, despite his size and strength. Mukotsu's is too flighty, too concerned with finding a woman who wouldn't care that he's so damn ugly. Ginkotsu…is a special case; not that he's stupid, although he is, although Bankotsu thinks if he had that much metal in his head he probably wouldn't be too smart anymore, either. Suikotsu has the weak-sister doctor in his head, constantly haranguing him about the people he kills. And Jakotsu…the very thought makes Bankotsu shudder. Jakotsu is a girl, really, and who would follow a girl? He is more concerned about his appearance than any real show of strength or solidarity.

It is Bankotsu they trust not to abandon them, Bankotsu they trust to keep them alive, and Bankotsu they trust to lead them.

As he looks around at his comrades, shortly after their resurrection, he realizes it's because he's the only sane one there.

End

A/N – Bankotsu's kinda cool, isn't he? And he really is the only sane one out of that bunch.


	25. A Sword's Lament

_A Sword's Lament_

All right – I'm all for trading places with Tetsusaiga. I bet Inuyasha at least _communicates_.

How, Inutaisho, _how_ did you have a son who doesn't _speak_? Get some sake into you and you never shut up. This one, though, just wow. He never speaks unless he absolutely _has_ to.

And he hates me.

I bet Inuyasha would have appreciated me. This is what I get, for not letting you die before you got to your wife, for resurrecting her, and then you pawn me off on somebody who just doesn't know what he's got.

Ungrateful whelp.

You know, I have actually heard him say – or think, at least, with this one it's hard to tell the difference, he does both so rarely – 'Father, why did you bestow this useless Tensaiga on me?'

Useless? _Useless_? I'll show you useless, you overgrown throwrug! You try resurrecting a hundred people with one swing, and see how well it turns out for you!

Oh, wait! I've never done that, either! Because my master is a…a…ug, there aren't words harsh enough.

And I gave him _companionship!_ He's got that adorable little girl – who is, might I add, the only one who appreciates me – and I even brought back that annoying toad! And he didn't even say _thank you_!

I would rather be back at Totosai's. He may be senile, but at least he appreciated what I was capable of.

I have to suffer because somebody had a toothache. Life isn't fair.

Inutaisho, I hope you can hear me. I want you to know that your son's a failure. Or at least a big jerk.

End

A/N – Poor Tenseiga.


	26. Follow The Leader

_Follow The Leader _

Jaken will be the first to admit that his lord is an unfathomable creature.

He understands very little his lord does – from his relentless pursuit of Tetsusaiga, his somewhat irrational hatred of all his remaining kin – all right, one remaining kinsman – and his nearly absolute loathing of humans _and_ his father.

After a while, he thinks that perhaps he has him figured, that maybe he understands, but then Sesshomaru cuts him down with Tenseiga, and he realizes that his lord was in no way sure of his survival, that Jaken is as expendable to Sesshomaru as everything else around the young lord.

And then, just to add insult to injury, he uses that same sword to resurrect a little human girl, and allows her to follow them! He even brings her the dragon-mule Ah-Un as transportation, and he is never harsh or violent with her!

No, he saves those outbursts for Jaken, who has done nothing but follow him faithfully!

Jaken understands his master's pursuit of Naraku – after all, that vile fool had nearly gotten them both killed – and he is overjoyed when Naraku is defeated at the hands of Lord Sesshomaru and his upstart younger brother. Finally, maybe they can have some peace, instead of constantly running around, doing this, and saving them, and fighting him.

Jaken has served his master faithfully for many years, and he would do anything for him – but this, this ungrateful, willful, upstart little _mongrel_, is simply too much.

"You're going to allow her to stay with us?" he asks one day, nearly dancing in agitation. "But – But, my Lord! She is just a mongrel! Rin is nearly grown, and no longer requires more protection that what you can give! And she is ungrateful, and does not treat my master with the respect he deserves!"

"These are dangerous times, Jaken," Sesshomaru replies. "I will not risk Rin's safety."

"You could find a different ally, my Lord! One worthy of your companionship and protection! One who is of full demon blood!"

"Kiare is a suitable ally," his lord says. "To seek another would be a waste of my time."

"Yo, Sessh!"

And that nickname she has given him is simply _vile_. His master has a perfectly suitable name, not that she's worthy to use it!

His lord simply frowns slightly. "I have asked you not to call me that," he says, but nothing else.

Jaken sighs, his little shoulders drooping. He supposes, since he got used to Rin, he can force himself to get used to Kiare.

It's not like he has much of a choice, anyway.

End

A/N – Poor Jaken. After all he does, this is the thanks he gets.


	27. Legends

_Legends_

In her last year of school, Kagome takes a mythology class on a lark. What the heck, she thinks, it should be interesting at least.

The teacher is a pretty woman with shy smile and restless hands. "Today, students," she says, "I'm going to do a brief introduction on demons. There are a great many different legends in our culture on demons. One of my favorites, however, are the stories that originated in the Warring States era."

Kagome is sincerely regretting taking this class, and it's only five minutes into it. The teacher continues, droning on and on and rambling about things Kagome still has nightmares about. She mentions the legend of the Shikon no Tama, explaining the tragic, star-crossed romance of the priestess who guarded it and the half-demon who sought it, and Kagome clenches her fists in her lap and glares at her textbook.

Kagome manages to tune the woman out, staring at her book and doodling on notepaper until four words catch her attention – 'Lord of the West.'

"He's never mentioned by name," the teacher says, "but he has a great deal of lore surrounding him. There are even some artist interpretations of what they think he might have looked like. They are on page…fifty-two."

Kagome, overwhelmingly curious, turns to that page.

It is certainly an accurate likeness, and she can only think that whoever drew this must have at least seen Sesshomaru. They even got down the color of his eyes, and the color of the markings on his face, even his kimono and armor.

"Now, most of the rumors about the Lord of the West say that he was extremely powerful, extremely intelligent, and completely ruthless."

_Well,_ Kagome thinks, _at least history got _something_ right._

"By the time the Warring States Era was over, they say he practically ruled all of Japan, and did it with an iron fist. Some even say he was the only noble to ever travel his lands without a single place to call home."

Kagome stares down at the picture in the textbook, thinking _Well, that fits_.

"They _also_ say he was the older brother of the young half-demon who pursued the Shikon no Tama. According to the legend the two brothers didn't get along very well, since the Lord of the West was a full-blooded demon, and the younger brother only a half-demon."

_Two for two,_ Kagome thinks. _Congratulations._

"The legends of the great Lord of the West continue well into the eighteen hundreds, when the last great battle is said to have been fought. He led the demons of Japan against the humans who wanted to kill them, and while he was not necessarily victorious, he did manage to give his people enough time to retreat to safety. After that…" The teacher trails off and spreads her hands. "He simply vanished."

Now Kagome is staring with wide eyes. _Sesshomaru…lead the demons against the humans? He _helped_ them survive? But…that's not like him! He doesn't care!_

The next thought on her mind is _Rin. I bet it had something to do with Rin._

"It is said that he died in the battles against the humans, saving the life of his younger brother. That he regretted his ways and repented."

Kagome muffles an undignified snort. _And pigs fly_.

"Others say that he is still around to this day, that there are still demons living among us. That through sheer force of will, the Lord of the West has managed to keep the demon populace peaceful. Well, students? What do you have to say about that? Miss Higurashi?"

Kagome smiles. "Well…anything's possible."

End

A/N -- I just thought that they would have all made it into the legends, that's all.


	28. Word Association, Sango

_Word Association: Sango_

"Sango? Would you help me with something?"

"Of course, Kagome. What is it?"

"It's for one of my classes. I say a word, and you say the first word that pops into your head!"

((bemused)) "All right."

"Tree."

"Wood."

"Green."

"Kagome. You always wear green."

"So I hear. Fox."

"Kitsune."

((hesitates)) "You know what? On second thought, let's not do this!"

"Kagome? What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing! I just realized I already asked Miroku and Inuyasha –"

((softly)) "Kagome, you won't upset me."

((sigh)) "Brother."

"…Lost."

"Oh, Sango, I'm so sorry."

"It's all right, Kagome. What's the next word?"

"Arrow."

"Kagome."

((brightens)) "Thank you!"

((amused)) "You're welcome."

"Death."

"Grave."

((another pause)) "Everybody else gave me _names_. Did you know you're the most logical one here?"

"It's not hard."

"That's certainly true."

((off to one side)) "We can hear you, you know!"

"Sit, boy!"

((SLAM!)) "All right, that one just wasn't fair!"

"Mother."

((pause)) "Wise."

"Aww." ((clears throat)) "Sorry. Sword."

"Inuyasha."

"Dark."

"Grave."

((pause)) "O-K. Demon."

"Battle."

"Sit."

((muffled giggle)) "Inuyasha."

"Beads."

((pause)) "Wind Tunnel. Oh, that's two words. Is that all right?"

"It's fine. Holy."

"Priestess."

"Grandmother."

"Kaede."

"'Cause of Shippo?"

"Yes."

"Father."

"Strong."

"Kill."

((hard voice)) "Naraku."

"Red."

"Blood."

"Iris."

"Ayame."

"Pearl."

"Pervert." ((pause)) "I have no idea."

((muffled laughter)) "It's OK, Sango. Food."

"Hunt."

"And the last word – water."

"Wet."

"Thanks, Sango." ((slap)) "Oh, hey, Myoga. Can you do me a favor?"

End


	29. A Lady's Attentions

_A Lady's Attentions_

"Who is that woman?" Inutaisho asks, turning to his father. "She's beautiful! What's her name? Who is her father? Where can I find her? I must see her again!"

The Lord of the West looks at his son, his only child, and smiles, and does not answer, because there are some things a man must do for himself.

So he seeks her out, this beautiful, exotic woman who caught his eye, and when he is soundly rebuffed, he returns to his father's side, still determined. "She is beautiful," he says. "I have never seen anyone like her. I _must_ have her."

His father looks at him, and shakes his head, and wonders how the lord of the southern dog clans would like having his daughter spoken of like a piece of property.

His son realizes that he must prove his worth, must win a battle against a truly fierce opponent in order to even win her attention. Her affection is another thing entirely.

Except there are no male warriors stronger than the female who has caught his eye, so Inutaisho challenges her to a duel, and she has him defeated before the battle even begins, choosing her barbs and comments and offhand remarks as carefully as a general chooses his battle plans.

Inutaisho returns to his father's side, still determined, but now for a different reason. "I will defeat her," he says darkly, "and when I win the duel, I'll make my demands as victor."

His father, thinking he really should know better, asks "And what will those be, my son?"

His son smirks. "I'll make her my wife," he says, perfectly offhand. "Don't you fancy such powerful grandchildren?"

His father smiles and nods and says nothing, since he has learned this is the best course of action when dealing with his son. But he wonders if Inutaisho realizes that, yes, they'll be wed before the season ends, but it will not be _he_ who rules the marriage.

_At least,_ he thinks, _Inutaisho's heir will be a handsome child._

End


	30. Foolish

_Fool_

nuyasha thinks his brother a fool for not taking what is so freely offered. For not taking Kiare's love when it is given, for not enjoying what would come with it. Namely, Inuyasha admits to himself, her body. She has a fairly nice one, and, even though he loves Kagome, and he's waiting until he can see her again, he has found himself admiring Kiare's legs.

It is, he assures himself, pretty much a guy thing to do.

--

Sesshomaru thinks his younger brother a fool, for not seeing and understanding why Sesshomaru has not accepted Kiare's love, why he has not taken her to his bed. His reason is simple, and he figures even Inuyasha should be able to understand it.

He does not love her. And since he does not, he has nothing to grant her in return, and so does nothing.

He shares his home with her, grants her protection when she needs it, allows her to come and go as she pleases. She is a restless creature, seeming to always be on the move, and it would pain them both to cage her. He does not admit to anyone, rarely even to himself, how, every time she leaves, he fears she won't return.

--

Kiare thinks herself a fool, for falling in love with him to begin with. It is not pure, she thinks, but is insteda a tainted thing, made so by her bitterness, and she does not wonder why he does not want her.

She has done little to aid him, she thinks, although she knows Sesshomaru would disagree in his cool, even voice. She knows he values her companionship, because they have traveled together, and then shared a home, for nearly four hundred years, and there are things he remembers that only she understands.

He calls her a friend, which is a title he bestows upon very few, and none other in their immediate circle of acquainances. She is happy with this, content that he sees her this way. She just wished it didn't hurt every time he said she was his friend, with an inflection that stated she was nothing more.

End


	31. Never Long Enough

_Never Long Enough_

Inuyasha has made Kagome many promises, over the course of the years he's known her. Most of them, he has managed to keep, although there are some that he knows he won't.

He vowed once to wait forever for her. But their forever is almost up.

She is an old woman now, frail and aged but her smile still lights up her whole face, and holding her hand – even though it is now chilled with poor circulation and the knuckles swollen with arthritis – makes his world brighter.

_It's not long enough_, he thinks, holding her as she sleeps. He doesn't sleep anymore. Sleeping would be to waste the time he has with her. _It would never be long enough. Do Sesshomaru and Koga even realize how lucky they are_?

But it occurs to him, as he holds his sleeping wife, that while Koga and Ayame have forever, Kiare does not, because her demon blood is diluted with that of a human. Not as much as him – she will outlive him, probably by centuries – but enough so that she is not truly immortal. And he thinks that it will never be long enough for Sesshomaru, either.

A bitter smile twists his lips. Perhaps he and Sesshomaru had something in common after all.

--

There is no fuss, no fanfare. One minute she is holding his hand, smiling at him in a vague way that is not surprising at her age, and the next minute, she simply _isn't_.

He kisses her hand, then her lips, and closes her eyes. He leaves the room, his back straight, his eyes straight ahead, picks up Tetsusaiga, and goes into the mountains. There is a nest of centipede demons there, and he has been waiting for just this moment.

They never knew what hit them.

He staggers back home, gets roaring drunk, and collapses into Kiare's arms, crying like a child. He is ashamed of his moment of weakness, but she tells him, gently, to shut up, and holds him while he cries, stroking his hair and murmuring in his ear.

It is – perhaps surprisingly, perhaps not – Sesshomaru who makes the arrangements. Inuyasha is almost, _almost_, surprised when Sesshomaru has Kagome buried in the tombs of their family, but then he realizes he shouldn't be. His brother, for all his coolness and distance, is doing the only thing he can for Inuyasha – it is a reassurance, of a sort, that even though Kagome was human, even though she was mortal, she was family. Even to Sesshomaru, perhaps.

Kiare is by his side while they lay her to rest, one hand woven in his. Sesshomaru stands on his other side, and Inuyasha has never been more grateful for his brother's presence. His children – his and Kagome's – surround him after the funeral, and though he would like nothing more than to follow his wife, his _life_, into the next world, he realizes his job here isn't done.

Later, as he holds his crying daughter in his arms, he looks across the room and meets his brother's eyes. He is still for a long moment, then he gives Sesshomaru a small nod – perhaps a reassurance, perhaps a thanks, but more likely a combination of the two. Sesshomaru returns the gestures and leaves the family to their grief, satisfied that his brother has made a decision.

He will tend his family, until his job is done.

End


	32. Fighting

As time passes, the humans change, both themselves and the world around them. Since it is not in demon nature to be changing, or even very accepting of change, most vanish into the remaining empty spaces or slip into deep sleep and many even die.

Sesshomaru has struggled to keep demonkind alive, but it is a losing battle. In the end, he wishes only for his survival, and that of those closest to him, although he keeps fighting for the other demons. He still cares for their race, and he will do whatever he can.

He would have given up long before now, and simply retreated into the wilds as many of the other demons have, if not for those closest to him. Inuyasha would hunt him down, call him a coward, anything to start a fight against what he sees as running away, and he doesn't want to deal with the aggravation. Besides, without him,Inuyasha would probably be dead within a year, and he has learned to tolerate his brother, if not precisely care for him.

It is for Kiare he fights, for Kiare he holds onto everything they've worked for. In a way, he admits, if only to himself, it is merely to keep her by his side. He fears for her when she leaves, because she is a wild, reckless creature, and without him to back her up, she might do something foolish and get herself killed.

Things have changed between them, and he's not entirely sure if he likes the way they're going. He has found himself watching her, more and more of late, noting the little things about her that he already knew but seem so new and strange to him now.

And more often than ever, he finds himself remembering the one time they had shared together, the one time he had allowed her to give herself to him, and wishes for it again, under less tragic circumstances, without the death of his child over his head. He finds himself fighting for control over impulses that he had thought completely restrained, and is torn between giving in and cursing her.

He knows, if he asked it of her, she would come to him, and share his bed. He does not have the courage to do so, and it angers him, because he is not a coward.

So he watches, and he waits, and he realizes, with something almost like dread, that he is falling in love with her.

And that he fears more than anything, because he does not want to hurt her.

End


	33. Time

_Time_

Sesshomaru has neither the time nor the patience to hate many things. He has dislikes, and things that irritate him, but he can only think of one thing he truly hates – time.

Time does not give, it merely takes, and it has taken much from him – his parents, his first wife, the little human girl he loved and raised as a daughter.

There are some who would argue you that time _has_ given him things, great gifts – after all, if not for time, he would never have met that little girl, or the untamed and complicated woman who became his second wife.

But they are false gifts, and time always takes back what it gives.

And now it will take his wife.

They've had many years together – he doesn't know how many. He could, if he thought about it long enough; but it doesn't matter. Because the time of this world is ending, but hers will end first.

She hasn't truly aged; her hair has gone entirely silver, but her face is still mostly unlined. It is only in her eyes that one can see the age that has worn her spirit, her life, away. She seems smaller, somehow, less vibrant, more fragile.

He still has the lands he has held onto for so many years, and he has fought for them. He no longer truly cares – he has given up on the humans, and even on their own kind – but he holds them for her, so that she has a home, a place that she can call her own.

"I'm tired," she says, sitting at the base of her favorite tree in the garden. "I think it's almost over."

He looks at her, says nothing, but already he can feel the beginnings of the grief that losing her will bring.

She reaches out, smiles, touches his face. "I worry about you," she murmurs. "Sounds arrogant, doesn't it? But I do."

So does he. But he remains silent, takes her hand, pressing a kiss to the palm.

She cradles his face in her hands, presses her lips to his. "I'm sorry," she whispers.

"It is all right," he murmurs. "We _will_ see each other again."

She smiles, even though there are tears in her eyes, and kisses him again. "Love me," she whispers. "Please."

He holds her to him, but gently, because she has become fragile, and he fears for hurting her. And when she sleeps, he lays awake, listening to the beating of her heart, hearing it slow almost imperceptibly.

He holds her and waits for the end, and he hates time.

--

She dies quietly, in her sleep, with no fuss. It is, he thinks, unlike her.

They bury her in the ancient tombs of his family, next to his parents and his brother and his human daughter. His children are by his side, and it hurts to look at them. She is in every part of them – Taisho has her face, Ichiro her eyes, their daughter her spirit.

He leaves as silently as he arrived, Jaken trailing behind him and sniffling. When his children go to find him, later, to offer him comfort in his grief, he and his retainer are nowhere to be found.

Ichiro and Yuki are confused, and lost. But Taisho understands.

"He is not coming back."

His brother and sister turn to look at him, eyes wide. "What do you mean, not coming back?" Yuki demands. "Of course he's coming back!"

Taisho shakes his head. "No. He trusts us to take care of ourselves and each other now. We are old enough. What reason does he have to stay?"

Ichiro nods. "You're not old enough to remember," he whispers. "Mother – she was what held him here. If not for her…he's gone back to the way it was before. He's wandering again."

"So we'll never see him again?" Yuki asks.

"If we need him, he will be here," Taisho says flatly. Of them all, he is the most like his father – perhaps that is why he understands. "And if we don't…then we will see them both when we die."

It is a cold comfort, but they both know what Taisho would say to that – better a cold comfort than none at all.

End


	34. Reasons

_Reasons_

Some, if told that the woman they've been traveling with for nearly three hundred years is in love with them, will probably respond with a 'huh?' or a 'no way.'

Lord Sesshomaru, Jaken thinks, is the only one who would respond with _yes, Jaken, I know_.

He stands there and gapes at his master for a long moment, obviously confused. He glances back over his shoulder at the sleeping girl -- _wench, mongrel, how dare she think she's worthy of loving Lord Sesshomaru -- _and then back at his master. "Er...I don't understand, Lord Sesshomaru."

"I am aware of her feelings for me, Jaken."

"But, my Lord! Why do you keep her around then?"

Sesshomaru turns his head, looks at the sleeping girl. His face softens, but not much, and not for very long. "I have my reasons, Jaken."

And with that, Jaken must be content.

End


	35. Brothers

_Brothers_

In a world where his father had lived, Inuyasha grew up to be fairly the same demon he would have been had his father died.

With some differences.

He was raised in his father's fortress, the son of a great lord, instead of in a village as the mongrel son of a princess. He was loved and cared for, not hated and cast out. His mother lived a long and full life, and Inuyasha had all the time he could have needed to love her.

His earliest memories, instead of just being of his mother, they are of his mother -- yards of dark hair, gentle dark eyes, soft hands, sweet smile, soft voice in a lullaby, and the scent of jasmine -- and his father -- long silver hair, soft fur, warm amber eyes, clawed calloused hands, deep voice, quiet laughter.

There is another presence in his early childhood, as well, this one _brother_. He is the scent of fresh rain, the feel of silk and armor and fur, long white hair and cool amber eyes and a deep, smooth voice without emotion.

But out of all of them, Sesshomaru -- for all his cool demeanour, his unquestionable ruthlessness, his apparent indifference -- it is Sesshomaru who is his favorite, Sesshomaru he wants to know, Sesshomaru he wants to be proud of him.

And it is Sesshomaru he learns the most from, because his mother doesn't know and his father is busy. It is Sesshomaru who teaches him of the different clans and tribes of demons, their lands and daily life and custom and ritual. It is he who seperates reality from myth, history from legend, truth from lie. He tells Inuyasha of their family history, of why he should be proud of the blood in his veins. It is Sesshomaru who is the first to tell him what _half-breed_ means.

HIs mother teaches him to write and read, but it is Sesshomaru who teaches him how to use the words to his advantage. His father teaches him to wield a sword and defend his life, but it is Sesshomaru who teaches him of strategy and tactics and honor. It is his father who teaches him that fighting isn't always necessary, but it is from Sesshomaru that he learns sometimes it is. His father teaches him to talk things out, but it is Sesshomaru who teaches him to wound with words.

Sesshomaru, in Inuyasha's eyes, is the ultimate demon -- cool, proud, undefeated. He is smart, he's an excellent teacher, he's more patient than their father and he is scrupulously honest.

It is to Sesshomaru Inuyasha takes the hard questions, the one his father won't answer and the ones that upset his mother.

_Brother? What is a half-breed? Mother took me to the village today, and they...threw rocks, and called me a mongrel and a half-breed._

Sesshomaru is silent for a long moment, apparently contemplating the answer. Inuyasha watches him patiently, not knowing that seeing his brother like this will be burned on his memory. Sesshomaru's eyes, for the first time Inuyasha can remember, show a bit of emotion -- sympathy, perhaps, or sorrow, but mostly they are knowing and uncompromising. He is a picture of demon power, Inuyasha thinks, in his white-and-red robes, his amber eyes cool, his white hair shining silver in the moonlight.

_A half-breed is the child of a human and a demon. To the humans, a half-breed is something to be hated and feared. To the demons, it is something to be looked down on, to be ashamed of, to be destroyed if possible. You are a half-breed, Inuyasha. The humans will never welcome you. Nor will the demons._

Inuyasha winces. _But that's not fair! I'm not mean!_

_No. But it is the way things are. And you cannot change it._

Inuyasha is silent for a long moment, tugging at his kimono. _Brother? Are you ashamed of me?_

Silence as Sesshomaru contemplates. _There was a time. It is an unnecessary thing, and a waste of my time. I cannot change what has happened, and so there is no point in not accepting it._

_You don't like Mama very much, do you_?

_She means little to me save our father's happiness. And it will be a fleeting thing, Inuyasha. _He pauses._ She will die, and it will seem soon, at least to our eyes. She is a human, and weak._

Inuyasha burrows into Sesshomaru's soft fur, shaking his head in denial. _Not Mama._

_It is unavoidable. Father would spare you the pain if he could, but it is impossible. It is something you must face._

_Sesshomaru? ...Where's your mama?_

_She is dead_.

Huge amber eyes -- nearly identical to those of his brother and father -- fill with tears, and he throws his arms around Sesshomaru. _I'm sorry, Sesshomaru! I bet you miss your Mama._

_Yes. _

_I'm sorry she's gone. I'm sorry, Sesshomaru._

_Yes, Inuyasha. It is...all right._

End


	36. Scars

_Scars_

Kohaku doesn't like letting Rin see the scar on his back. Or the much smaller ones scattered about his chest and shoulders. They are old, faint, faded -- but they are reminders, just the same -- reminders of his death, his resurrection, his servitude to Naraku.

She asks him once about the one on his back -- he responds shortly, harshly. _That's where the Jewel fragment was. The one that kept me alive._

She nods. _I see. Why do you look so sad, Kohaku?_

He stares at her incredulously._ That's how Naraku kept me as a slave_! He shakes his head in bewilderment. _I can't be happy about it, Rin. It's a constant reminder -- a reminder that I died._

She stares at him with wide, serious eyes, then tugs down the shoulder of her yukata.

Kohaku instantly goes red, then pale. _Rin! Don't do that! What are you _doing? Unspoken, _Are you trying to get me _killed He looks around frantically for Lord Sesshomaru. He knows he won't be there, he left Rin in the care of the village, but it's still a worry. After all, the demon Lord gives no warning before he appears before them.

She touches his face, brings his eyes back to hers, then gestures at her shoulder. There is a scar there, so faint he has to squint to see it. _It's a wolf-bite,_ she says, as solemn as he as ever seen her. _From their teeth. It's how I died_.

He stops, stares at her incredulously. _You...died? But..._ He doesn't know why he's so surprised -- he knew this, after all -- but it's still shocking to hear it.

_Yes. And then Father saved me. It's not a reminder that I died -- it's a reminder that I was reborn, and that things got better than they were before._

He stares at her, wide-eyed. He had not expected such wisdom from her, as she generally came across as flighty and light-hearted. She tugs her kimono back into place and smiles, taking his hand.

_Think of it that way. It helps. Besides, things have gotten better, haven't they?_

He looks at her, then smiles and caresses her face. _I love you, Rin. _You _make things better._

Rin's beautiful dark eyes widen, since he's never told her that until now, before she smiles. _I love you, as well, Kohaku. Thank you_.

He smiles, folds his fingers over hers, and thinks that being resurrected isn't such a bad thing after all, if you can spend the afternoon in the sunlight holding hands with a beautiful girl, simply spend time being in love, knowing that she doesn't mind your scars, because she has scars of her own.

He decides he doesn't hate life so much, after all.

End


	37. Spector

_Spector_

She goes to the forest to seek peace, to seek comfort, to seek freedom, although she is old enough to know that she will find none of these things. She is fourteen, after all, and a princess, and betrothed.

In less than a year she will marry, though she cares nothing for the man she is promised to. He is just another lord, more than twice her age. There have been some jokes about how she will outlive the graying old man, but she knows it's unlikely. She is strong, but she is small, and will most likely not bear many children before childbirth carries her off.

Perhaps that is the fate she wishes for. She imagines doing her wifely duties, letting him take what tradition says is his by right, and has to force back a shudder.

She sits under a tree, brushing back her long hair and seeking that peace, that comfort, a mere taste of the freedom she desires. They do not come to her, because she knows that they would be illusions, and she is too old for such petty dreams. She is, after all, fourteen.

She stands, and walks further, and knows if she doesn't return soon her father will be angry. But she can't help it, and she doesn't want to go back. Ever ever ever again.

She is only a few feet from him before she sees him. There is snow on the ground, on the trees, and his long silver hair and white fur cloak nearly blend. An old warlord, she thinks at first, judging from the color of the long tail of hair, but what old man could bear that heavy armor? And those swords? Not one or even two, but three, two at his side and one across his back.

His head turns slightly, and she recoils, because this is no warlord, old or young, and no warrior, no samurai, no soldier. His face is smooth, young, shocking -- because of the pale, smooth skin, such an oddity; because of the jagged purple stripe along each high cheekbone; because of the large, exotic amber eyes. And she can see his ears are pointed.

This is no human -- this is a demon, a _youkai_, a creature of legend and myth and fear.

She gasps, steps back again, stumbles, and falls.

He turns completely now, to look at her. Her heart nearly stops beating; partially it is fear, but mostly it is how handsome, how utterly _beautiful_ and _otherworldly_ he is. His beautiful amber eyes meet hers, linger, then scan the rest of her.

_Why are you out here, child? And alone_?

She opens her mouth to speak, but she can say nothing. He doesn't seem surprised -- it will occur to her later that he's probably used to such a reaction, and would never be impressed by a mere human girl like her, anyway, she could have nothing of value to say to him -- and steps forward, extending one hand. The fingers are clawed, and she hesitates to take it.

_I'm not going to hurt you, girl_.

She takes his hand, and stands. She gazes at him for a moment, stunned, before she bows, low and graceful. He seems startled for a moment, then amused, then something else, an emotion she cannot identify. He returns her bow.

Behind her, she hears her father's soldiers approach, undoubtedly searching for their wayward princess. She turns her head for a moment, then turns back, so she can ask him who he is, ask his name, ask him to take her away, away from her overbearing family and her father's commands and her impending marriage.

But he is already gone.

_Princess? Lady Izayoi? We must return!_

Takemaru. Yes.

Izayoi sighs, her gaze lingering on the snow at her feet, where he -- her handsome, dangerous spector -- had been just a moment ago...but there is no sign he had ever been there. Perhaps it had all been in her imagination.

But she knows she will return to this place. If only so she can see him again, if only from a distance... it would be worth it.

_End_


	38. Modernization

_Modernization_

It has occurred to him that the modern world is no place for a demon. Not a full demon, not even a lowly half-breed like him.

The wolves have got the right of it, he thinks. Hide in the mountains -- come down when you have to, and only if it helps ensure the survival of your race. Koga and Ayame are the smart ones -- they hide. They survive.

Oh, he has survived as well, and adapted to the city -- but it's not the same. There are no trees, except the parks, and how horrified he had been when Kagome told him of such things!

_Really, Inuyasha, it's not that bad! Geez, you act like it's the end of the world, or something!_

Except his world ended when she went back to her own time and never came back, and this modernization crap is just emphasizing how out of place he is, how out of place they all are. Even Shippo hates the modern world, and he's the youngest one of them.

Well, the youngest of the ones that count, in his opinion.

He lives in an apartment, pretends to be human, wears a cap at all times -- and spends as much time as he can out in the bloody country, or in the mountains with the wolves, beating on Koga, or hiding at Sesshomaru's palatial home, where the gardens grow wild and there are others like him and he can kick Jaken around if he needs to feel better.

_Sesshomaru_. Now there's something to contemplate, as he often thinks. Sesshomaru, he believes, has changed greatly since the Feudal Era, and he would be surprised -- truly surprised -- by how different his brother is, because he thinks that the core of him, the demon buried underneath that soft human-looking exterior, is still the same cold, arrogant, heartless bastard it always was.

Mostly, he's right. But there have been changes, great changes, since the death of Rin, bloody and horrible, the little girl his brother had saved and raised and loved as a daughter, the little girl who had grown up and gotten married and had children of her own before her bloody, violent, unnecessary death.

But when he finds himself thinking of Sesshomaru, he turns his mind to other things, because he does not understand his older brother, and he knows he never will. Sesshomaru has children of his own now, but his little brother knows that Rin will always be there, in the great demon lord's mind, and that, he thinks, is the way it should be. And, although his nephews may be the bane of his existence, he is glad they're there, because they take Sesshomaru's mind off the past, and off the time when the past was all he had. A brooding brother is an annoying brother.

And after this he turns his mind away, and tries to think of something else, but the first thing that comes to his mind is, as always, Kagome. Always Kagome.

He misses her, and his heart aches with it, and he is a fool to live in the city, to live in Tokyo, and to purposely -- if subconciously -- take an apartment that's so close to the Higurashi Shrine.

At these times -- usually when he walks right by the shrine, even though it's blocks out of his way -- he'll think _what the hell's wrong with you, anyway? What are you doing, idiot? You think after the way you acted she's gonna be all happy to see you? Not a chance!_

He has the exact date -- he thinks -- she'll return full-time to the present pinpointed in his mind, and that week -- OK, month -- all right, the whole damn year -- he avoids the shrine. In fact, he deliberately leaves the country, dragging Shippo and his nephews half-way around the world to go demon-hunting.

_Sesshomaru may like his kids, but he can't pretend he ain't glad they're gone_! And, since Sesshomaru's wife is expecting another child by the time they return, he wasn't the only one.

Even when he tells himself that he knows she won't be happy to see him, that he's being an ass, the instant they return to Tokyo he's standing across the street from the Shrine, just staring.

She comes down the stairs, her hair boucing down her back, and that skirt really _is_ indecent. She pauses at the bottom of the stairs, and frowns, her eyes searching the crowd, before they land on him.

He freezes. He sees her eyes go wide, and he sees her lips form one word..._Inuyasha_.

At that, he's able to force his frozen legs to move, to turn and hurry down the sidewalk, hunching his shoulders and cursing himself for not tying back that distinctive silver hair. He has to get away, he _needs_ to get away before she can catch up with him. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees her bolt across the street, impervious to traffic.

_Stupid girl_, he thinks, but just before he reaches the corner, two words reach his ears.

_SIT, BOY!!_

And Inuyasha was introduced to the pavement in a whole new way.

When he pulls his face out of the crater, he says the first thing that pops into his head, turning to look at her with furious eyes.

_Dammit, wench, what was that for?_

_End_

_A/N -- They're so damn cute, aren't they?_


	39. Kids

_Kids_

His father may have been a fool, but there are moments when Sesshomaru thinks the Inu no Taisho had the right idea with Inuyasha.

Die when they're young. They're much less irritating then.

If he mentioned such a thing to his wife, he knows he would get an incredulous look and a reply along the lines of _Are you insane? You want to leave me alone with these monsters? Bite your tongue, my Lord._

And Inuyasha? _Oh, geez, come on, Sesshomaru; they're not _that_ bad, _accompanied by an evil smirk, followed by a hasty retreat.

When his wife -- usually irritated -- demands some help with the kids, saying that they didn't get it all from her, his reply is usually along the lines of _I did not act this way when I was a child_.

The elder boy is perfectly serious, a much smaller version of his father, but with his mother's face. The younger is a carbon copy of his father in appearance, his mother in tempermant, and his uncle in attitude.

Sesshomaru often has no particular desire to claim that child as his own, and if not for the markings on the boys face, could almost believe he was Inuyasha's son instead of his own.

His wife didn't appreciate that, either.

They love both their parents in a sweet, uninhibited way, the pure love of a child. Sesshomaru is, when they look up at him and smile, trusting him implicitly, reminded painfully of Rin. And this is not a bad thing, because he never wants to forget her.

For all their love of their parents, however, they are holy terrors, constantly playing pranks on each other, Jaken, Inuyasha, and Koga. They fight constantly, bicker endlessly, and would argue about the color of the sky. If Ichiro said it was blue, Taisho would produce facts and figures and other proof that stated _clearly_ that the sky was red.

They were exhausting. And when Inuyasha takes them with him for that year, he is intensely grateful, although he would never say so.

Judging from his wife's ardour, he wasn't the only one.

Three months before his sons are scheduled to return, however, he awakens to his wife, her elbows perched on his chest, a small smile on her lips.

_I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is the twins are fine, and driving Inuyasha batty. _

_And the bad?_

The smile grows

_Do you want another boy, or would you rather have a girl?_

_End_

_A/N -- I have no idea where this came from, just for the record._


	40. Peace

_Peace_

There was a time she was happy. There was time when every day was not a constant battle for inner peace. There was a time when her brother was still her brother, and not Naraku's puppet.

There was a time when every breath was not drawn for vengeance's sake.

But that time has grown hazy in her mind, overshadowed by her fear, her anger, her hatred. Her love for Kohaku and her companions is her one beacon in an otherwise dark time, and she cherishes it, knowing it could be gone at any second.

But there are still moments when she can find, if not happiness, than some measure of peace, provided the monk is otherwise occupied. She sits beneath a tree, breathing in the scent of the blossoms, and for the moment, Naraku is the farthest thing from her mind.

Some day, she swears to herself, she will have that happiness again. She will have a home, a husband, children, and her brother. Someday, she will have all the things she has been temporarily cheated of.

Until that day comes, though, she has a family, she reminds herself, a family that is strange and mismatched and oddly wonderful, a family that consists of a bad-tempered half-demon, a misplaced priestess, a kitsune cub, and a perverted monk.

She smiles and wraps her arms around her legs and turns her face up to the sun, basking in the warmth that sometimes she feels she will never have again.

For now, she thinks, that is enough.

_End_

A/N -- I hadn't done a Sango piece either. I really like her, as she's not a terribly complex character, but she is interestingly layered.


	41. Damned

_Damned_

I have been told that I'm evil, told that I'm damned. Is this true?

Undoubtedly.

There are worse things to be.

Alone and dying in a dark cave, burned so badly the very light hurts, consumed by a desire for a priestess who is consumed by desire for a useless half-breed.

Onigumo was a useless creature. I would be well-shed of him. Kikyo would no longer be such a burning desire, such a clawing, desperate need in what is left of his tattered soul.

I would be well-shed of him, so why will he not be still? He has no part in this life, no part in my conquest, and nor does Kikyo, so why will he not be still?

Perhaps. Perhaps once I have her blood on my hands, once more see her lifeless corpse at my feet, perhaps then Onigumo will be still.

And if not...slaying her will be well worth putting up with his puling and whining. Slaying her, and that useless mongrel, and her reincarnation -- yes. That would be worth nearly any price.

While I'm at it, I'll add in Sesshomaru and his irritating, sniveling retainer.

Perhaps I am damned.

But there are worse things to be.

At this point, being Inuyasha would be one of them.

I think he'll die after Kikyo. And after the reincarnation. And the little girl who follows his brother shall die in front of them both.

As I said, there are worse things to be.

_End_

A/N -- I hadn't done a Naraku one yet. His point of view is kind of interesting. I don't know if I got it exactly right, but, hey, I tried.


	42. One Day

_One Day_

He knows he's young, and he knows he's not strong enough -- but one day, _boy_, is that Inuyasha going to _pay_.

He sits at the edge of their encampment and scowls at the campfire, noticing the way everyone else is silent, and Kagome is moving very stiffly as she prepares their dinner.

And Inuyasha? Gee, where is Inuyasha? Off to meet with _Kikyo_. And break poor Kagome's heart all over again!

He wishes their was something he could do, something he could say to make Kagome feel better, to make her realize that useless Inuyasha isn't worth getting upset over. But there's nothing he can do except silently hope that when he returns Kagome sits him into next _week_.

And if him hurting Kagome wasn't enough, he has to watch everything he says for fear of the half-demon's fists. And that's not fair either!

Well, all right, maybe _sometimes_ he says things he shouldn't, but he still doesn't deserve to have his head beaten in!

Inuyasha returns to the camp, silent and pale, and Shippo scowls. No one speaks. Shippo makes sure to get under the half-demon's feet, to get in his way, and this earns him a scowl. "Move it, runt," he mutters.

Shippo huffs. "It's not my fault you're all crabby after meeting with your dead girlfriend!"

"Shut up!"

And then he's seeing stars.

_"SIT BOY!!"_

Shippo rubs his head and scowls, inwardly dancing at seeing Inuyasha implanted face-first into the ground.

One day, he's going to be big enough and strong enough to take care of it himself. One day, he's not going to have to rely on Kagome to set Inuyasha straight.

One day.

_End_

_A/N -- Poor Shippo. Doomed to be Inuyasha's punching bag, at least until he gets bigger. Even though sometimes he really does deserve it._


	43. Insanity

_Insanity_

Those two think they're got it rough? Ha!

They didn't spend centuries under the near-complete control of a hated master. They haven't spent hundreds of years having their every plan foiled, their every desire crushed.

The happiest day of my accursed existence was the day that burning building fell on the bastard's head.

And over a _human_. Please. Could we _get_ any softer? How pathetic!

At least his elder son has some _sense_. Enough not to get entangled with a human wench. Or maybe his brain's softened, too. Who knows? It's been years since I last saw the pup, and he could have inherited more from his lunatic father than those eyes.

I doubt it, though. At least Sesshomaru has some pride.

Don't get me started on the other one, though. He is...weak. So easily manipulated, so much desire to be stronger...and who is So'unga to deny its master?

Of course, he inherited his father's weakness for humans, what with that irritating human _wench_ and her commands.

I should have let Sesshomaru remove his head. At least then I could have had a worthy master.

Now look at me. Dust in the wind. The great So'unga, destroyed by a mongrel and a...an overgrown throwrug.

One day, though, I shall be reborn, and I shall have my vengeance. I will have it, not just on those pups, but on their father. What barrier is death to one such as So'unga?

_End_

A/N -- I'd done every sword by So'unga and Tokijin. I'm still working on Tokijiin, but So'unga...well, it's kinda cool. As for the title -- the sword's lost it.


	44. Second Horror Of A Teenage Daughter

_The Second Horror Of Having A Teenage Daughter -- Questions_

It is a peaceful day. They have settled into a quiet glade for the evening, and Rin is chasing butterflies as Jaken pokes at the fire with a disgruntled look and the mongrel settles back to stare at the stars, listening for Rin with half an ear.

Eventually, the little girl comes over and sits next to him with a thoughtful expression. "Lord Sesshomaru? Where do babies come from?"

He snaps his head around to look at her, his expression surprised. Jaken's head jerks up from next to the fire, and Kiare wraps her arms around her head and collapses into laughter, keeping it muffled.

"Lord Sesshomaru? Do storks really bring the babies?"

He blinks at her. "No, they..." And stops.

Rin tilts her head curiously. "Lord Sesshomaru? Don't you know?" She thinks about it some more. "Is that why you don't have any babies?"

Kiare buries her face in her sleeve, her shoulders shaking.

Jaken lets out a single undignified snicker before his lord gives him a look that clearly states 'silence or death.' He returns to his contemplation of the fire.

He sighs, takes a breath, and starts to explain.

"Whoa, whoa," Kiare says. "Let's not get _too_ graphic."

"Then you tell her."

"Oh, gee, thanks." Kiare tilts her head back, thinking about it. "Well, you know, it's like he said. When too people love each other, they do...something, that makes a baby, the baby grows inside its mother, and about nine months later, you've got a kid."

Rin frowns. "But how does the baby get inside the mommy?"

"Um."

"Oh, yes, mongrel, do tell," Jaken says.

"You wanna do this, toadboy?"

"Oh, but you're doing so well! Besides, I know nothing of human atanomy, save the basics."

"Like I do?"

"You're part human, after all!"

"Like I've had a baby." Kiare sighs. "Look, Rin...it's something that's...very special, and, if you try to explain it, it sounds...really gross."

Rin wrinkles her nose. "Making babies is yucky?"

"Depends on your point of view, really." Kiare is blushing furiously, and gives the snickering Jaken a hard look. "I repeat, do _you_ wanna do this, toad?"

"Lord Sesshomaru? Is it yucky?"

Both Kiare and Jaken shut up, although he could tell Kiare was trying, once again, not to laugh.

"It can be...messy, yes. But not nearly as disgusting as Kiare makes it out to be."

Kiare shrugs. "Young and innocent. I have an excuse."

Jaken snorts. "Young, perhaps, but innocent I doubt."

"Hey, one out of two isn't bad."

"Lord Sesshomaru?"

He sighs. "Yes, Rin?"

"Why don't you have babies?"

"My last mate was murdered."

Kiare jerks, her eyes going wide, but she goes still and silent.

Rin's eyes widen, fill with tears, and she flings her arms around him. "Oh, I'm sorry, Lord Sesshomaru."

"By humans." He gently disentangled her arms from around him and rose to his feet, walking away.

He hears Rin begin to follow him, and hears Kiare murmur to her gently, settling her in for the evening.

He stays where he is, within earshot of them, until the night is almost over. He hears them begin to stir in the morning, Kiare murmuring to Rin and sending the little girl out for food for them before they depart. He hears the customary exchange of insults between Kiare and Jaken.

He hears Rin return to camp, and hears her approach Kiare. "Kiare? Does Lord Sesshomaru blame me?"

There's a moment of silence. Then, "Blame you for what, love?"

"For...what happened."

Another moment of silence. "No. I think it was a long time ago. He doesn't blame you, because he knows it had nothing to do with you. You're not like them, and he knows it." Another pause. "I think it just hurts for him to think about her."

"It would explain his hatred for most humans," Jaken says.

"Yeah," Kiare replies. "Who can blame him? I'd be pissy about it too." There's another pause, and she sighs. "It has nothing to do with you, Rin. He...doesn't put you in with the rest of the humans. You're different for him. For all of us. Right, Jaken?"

"She's more tolerable than most of them."

He hears Rin approach him. "Lord Sesshomaru?"

"Yes, Rin?"

She pauses, and her hand hesitantly creeps into his. "Are you angry at me, Lord Sesshomaru? I didn't mean to make you angry."

"No."

She beams up at him, and spontaneously hugs him. "Thank you, my Lord!" and runs back to camp.

He watches after her for a moment, before following.

Life was much simpler before.

_End_


	45. Promise

_Promise_

Ayame spent her life waiting for one thing, clinging to a single offhand promise, the one thing that keeps her strong through her training and her trials.

_Don't worry, Ayame. When you come back from the mountains, I'll make you my wife._

Those words, those simple, offhand words that she hung her future on.

She returns, she searches him out, she finds him with that...that Kagome. At first she hates her, then she hates him, then she sighs and realizes what a waste of time it is.

But she can't give up. There's a part of her, the little girl that he once saved from the Birds of Paradise, that holds Koga in high regard, the highest, and that part loves him. Once she knows him, fights beside him, she, the part of her that's grown, that Ayame that is now, loves him, too.

And she knows that Koga doesn't stand a chance with Kagome, no matter what he thinks. When he finally realizes this, maybe he'll remember that promise he made.

And maybe, when he remembers, he'll let himself love her, too.

_End_


	46. Guardian

_Guardian_

Myoga has never been terribly brave, although he'll be the last person to admit it. He has no taste for the battle that has driven all his masters.

In fact, when Lord Inutaisho tells him that he'll be a retainer for his second child, the half-demon that his new wife carries, he is relieved. What trouble can a child get in to, after all?

He should have known better, really. After all, this child, half-demon or no, is the son of the Inu no Taisho, and Myoga has never known a creature, man or demon, who was more capable of getting into trouble than the great Dog Lord.

He is as much help to the Lady Izayoi as he can be, and he does as his lord bid, a command twofold -- guard the child, guard the tomb.

Fortunately, he's the only one who realizes that the two are one and the same, although he dreads the day Lord Sesshomaru realizes it, as well, for Tetsusaiga was buried with his father, and Tetsusaiga is Sesshomaru's all-consuming desire.

He just hopes, when this is realized, he's as far away from the two brothers as he can get.

After all, Myoga has never been terribly brave.

_End_


	47. Lost

_Lost_

He is furious, and so is she. They both scream, they both yell, they both say things that they will regret. They just don't know how much.

_Fine! Fine! Go! See if I give a damn! We don't need you anymore, anyway! Go back to your precious school, and your perfect family! Fine! Stay gone this time, why don't you?_

_Fine! I will! You stubborn ass, just see if I come back!_

_Fine!_

_Fine!_

She jumps down the well, and he bounds into the forest.

Three days later, she still has not returned. _Fine,_ he thinks. _I pissed her off. She just needs time to cool down, that's all._

Three days after that, she still has not returned. Shippo is not speaking to him, and although he welcomes the peace, he's not real happy about the looks he's getting from Sango and Miroku and Kaede.

He goes back to the well, stares down it. _Geez, do I have to do _everything_ myself? _and jumps in.

And goes no where.

He just sits there for a moment, wide-eyed and shocked, before it finally starts to sink in. _No. Oh, please no._ He presses his hands to the ground, digs his claws in. _No_.

If he can't get through...maybe Kagome can't get back.

_No. NO! Give her back! _He spins, slams his fist into the stone. _Give her back! Give her back! You can't keep her! I _need_ her, goddamnit!_

He sinks back to the ground, overcome with loss. _Give her back,_ he whispers, praying to whatever spirit or deity seems to not be listening today_. Please. I need her. You have to give her back. I love her. Please._

There is no answer. He throws his head back and howls, a sound of pain and grief and loss.

He tries to tell himself it's a fluke, tries to tell himself that she's warded it somehow so that he can't get through, that she's still pissed at him but she'll get over it.

But he knows it's not the truth. She's lost to him, and he has not felt this kind of pain since his mother's death, since Kikyo's betrayal. It takes a long time for it to sink in.

Kagome is lost to him.

_End_

A/N -- Sorry, I know it's kind of sad. But you know, I've always wondered how he would react if the well closed up. I think this is pretty close. ...Right before he tries to self-destruct, probably.


	48. Behind

_Behind_

_Slap!_

_God, Miroku, don't you have any self-control?_

Well, no, not really.

He can't help it. The instant he gets behind Sango, his eyes drop to the sway of her hips, and his hand is drawn to her behind as though by magic.

Shortly after Naraku's defeat, he ends up with Kohaku's fist to his face after rubbing Sango's bottom in front of him. The next day, he gets Hiraikotsu upside the head, accompanied by an evil glare. _Miroku,_ must_ you_?

He smiles ruefully and rubs the top of his head. _I cannot help it, darling Sango. You're simply so beautiful_.

She snorts and turns her back, but not before he catches sight of her blush and pleased expression.

Kohaku looks back and forth between them, shakes his head, and hurries to walk up next to Inuyasha and Kagome.

It takes Sango a month to notice, even though they're passed through several villages and he's had an excess of opportunity, he hasn't groped a single woman but her, and thinks this is the closest to a real proposal she's ever going to get.

But, no. He finally asks her, although he does the proper thing and seeks the blessing of Kohaku beforehand, and gets a stern lecture on just _what_ Kohaku thinks Miroku should do.

_When you do, take her flowers, and promise her loyalty. That's the most important thing to her._ A pause, and then, almost affectionately, _Idiot_.

So he brings her flowers, kneels, swears his everlasting love and loyalty, and she accepts, crying and blushing and hugging him. He picks her up, swings her around, overjoyed. He gives her one thing, a symbol of everything she has every been to him -- the rosary that so recently encircled his wrist. She beams and wraps it around her own.

They are walking back to the encampment, hand in hand, Sango in thoughtful silence before she says, _There's just one thing I have to do first, _and untangles her hand, reaches around him...and briskly squeezes his behind.

_My dear Sango!_

And she laughs, and it's the most beautiful thing he's ever heard, even if he is in a state of near-catatonic shock.

_End_

A/N -- Sango's vengeance. Heh.


	49. Third Horror Of A Teenage Daughter

_The Third Horror Of Having A Teenage Daughter -- Boys_

Kohaku began searching them out once Rin turned thirteen. He brought her flowers, brought her sweets, little trinkets and other things over which she gave him great, beaming smiles, which, in turn, made him blush and stutter and grin and stare at his shuffling feet.

Rin greatly enjoyed his visits, and so Sesshomaru would not put a stop to them. Although he did not trust Kohaku as far as...Jaken could throw him.

It was because of Naraku, really, because he could not trust anyone who had been under Naraku's control for so long. No sooner would he trust Kagura or Kanna.

When informed of this, Kiare made a rude noise. _It's not because of Naraku. It's because you think he's putting the moves on your little girl, and you hate it._

There is, he will admit, although only to himself, some truth in this, although very little. The mongrel does not understand him nearly as well as she thinks.

It is not because of some suppressed paternal instinct that he has to stop himself from reaching for Tokijin when Kohaku moves to close to her, or from using his claws to remove the boy's head when he touches her.

It is simply because he does not trust him, and no one he does not trust should be so close to Rin.

So he watches them with narrowed eyes, does not let them leave his sight, despite the boy's frightened glances and Jaken's confused pleas to be _elsewhere_ during the strange human mating rituals. He watches, and he waits, and he wishes that she were still a little girl, so he would not have to worry about such things.

He is more of a parent than he believes.

_End_


	50. Reckless

Kagome is lost to him, and this makes him careless, makes him...well, kind of stupid. Sango and Miroku have both tried to reason with him, Kaede has tried to calm him down, even Shippo has stepped forth to try and get through to him.

Even _Koga_ has tried. _Come on, you stupid mutt, do you think this is what she'd want? Moron! You're gonna get yourself killed! And what happens if she does manage to get back, huh? Find out you're dead, and break her heart all over again? Idiot half-breed!_

But he doesn't listen, and instead does foolish, reckless things, such as attack larger, more powerful demons head-on, occasionally without even attempting to unsheathe Tetsusaiga, alienating his friends, and seeking out Sesshomaru to pick a fight.

Sesshomaru recognizes his brother's self-destructive impulses for what they are, and although there was a time, not so long ago, when he would have taken the opportunity to slay him and claim Tetsuseiga, he now realizes it would prove nothing, as he can't even wield the sword.

It reaches the point where Sesshomaru will simply turn his back on his brother and walk away, refusing to battle him.

_What's wrong, Sesshomaru? Afraid? Or am I makin' it too easy for you?_

His brother turns back to face him, looks at him for a long moment. _You are pathetic. How such a weak half-breed shares my blood is a mystery to me. How you have even survived is beyond my comprehension._

Inuyasha sneers. _Don't sound too hard to me._

_You possess Tetsuseiga, yet you do not welcome it. You had possessed one who was so close to you, yet you pushed her away. And now you are feeling sorry for yourself. Thrusting yourself into battle when you do not even know that you are in too deep. I will not waste my time on such a pathetic excuse for a demon._

Inuyasha is furious. _What the hell do you know about it, anyway? You wouldn't know...know love if it walked up and bit you on the ass, so don't try to tell me what I feel! You're a gods-damned hypocrite, that's what you are!_

_That may be so, but I am not the one who is giving up, when all you have to do is wait. _With that, Sesshomaru turns and starts walking again.

Inuyasha stares after him, completely stunned. _What the hell does that mean_?

Sesshomaru pauses, but does not turn back. _You are the son of the Inu no Taisho, a half-demon. What makes you think that your life is as short as that of these humans?_

_I'm not immortal!_

_No. But you are not going to die in the near future. You have more time than you are willing to give yourself._

And then he walks away, and even though Inuyasha calls his name, he does not turn back.

_End_


	51. News

The waiting is the hard part.

That's something he has learned over the last few centuries. The waiting is always the hardest part. He just hopes he's found his courage enough that he'll actually be able to approach her when their time comes around again.

Sometimes he wonders.

His friends are long dead, dust in the wind, save Shippo, and the kitsune is no more a constant in his life than anything else. He comes and goes as he pleases, and goes more than comes. Koga's around, too, somewhere, but he doesn't count the wolf prince among his friends and never has. Sometimes he's a good guy to get together with and have a drink with, because if you pour enough sake into him he always agrees to pay the tab. At least until Ayame comes and drags him home, ripping into him verbally, making him slouch and mumble apologies as Inuyasha laughs hysterically behind him.

He and Sesshomaru cross paths on occasion, but there's another person he's never counted among his friends, although, like Koga, he no longer actively considers the elder demon an enemy. Although they do, on occasion, fight.

When word reaches his ears in the early twentieth century that Sesshomaru has taken a wife, he chokes on his sake and leaves the tavern in a hurry, immediately seeking out his brother to see if it's true.

Hell, it'll break up the monotony.

His brother meets him outside of the place where he now resides, Tokijin at his side, still wearing his regal garb. Inuyasha says the first thing that pops into his head. "Don't tell me somebody was actually crazy enough to _marry_ you."

Sesshomaru arches an eyebrow. "I fail to see how it's any of your concern."

"Well, I'm curious," he defends. "Besides, I can't imagine anybody being nuts enough to marry you. What'd ya do, get her drunk?"

"No. Unlike you, little brother, I don't need to damage a woman to attract her."

"Hey! All right, that's just offensive. Kagome wasn't damaged!"

"Perhaps not. Merely brash and offensive. It is entirely possible that you were all she could attract. Is this why you came here, little brother? To exchange insults?"

Inuyasha crosses his arms and sulks. "No. I told you, I was curious. I thought I wanted to meet this woman, but on second thought, she's probably just like you." Something like horror dawns on his face. "_Tell_ me it isn't Kagura. Being related to you I can handle, but _not_ her."

Sesshomaru merely arches an eyebrow, and says nothing.

"You didn't. Oh, gods, you _did._ Are _you_ damaged?"

"I fail to see how this is any of your concern, little brother."

"You _are_. You're not just damaged, you're _broken_."

Sesshomaru sighs, turns his back, and starts to walk away.

"You're gonna regret marrying her."

Another sigh. "Inuyasha, you are being foolish."

"_Me_? Who's the one married to _Naraku's incarnation_?"

"I would say that fate is far more likely for you than I, little brother."

Inuyasha just stops, and stares. Sesshomaru reaches the house, and Inuyasha yells, "Whoa, whoa! What -- huh?" A pause. "Did you just call me an idiot?"

"I see your deductive reasoning has grown stronger."

"All right, now you're gettin' nasty. Well, if it ain't Kagura, who the hell is it? She's the one who's spent the last five hundred years pantin' after you!"

Sesshomaru stops, looks at him, then goes inside and shuts the door.

Inuyasha just stands there and gapes.

"Hey, Sesshomaru! Do the world a favor and never breed!"

_End_


	52. Heartbroken

_Heartbroken_

Kagome gets over her anger fairly quickly. It was silly to be that angry at Inuyasha, because...well, he was the way he was. Nothing would ever change that, and she wouldn't even if she could.

So she gets over it, and she returns to the well, her bag on her back, waving to her mother and brother over her shoulder.

She closes the door of the little wellhouse behind her, and jumping into the well.

And hitting the bottom.

She just sits there for a long moment, frowning, then pulls the completed Shikon Jewel out from under her blouse. It just sits in the palm of her hand and glows serenely as she worries this new problem over and over in her mind.

_Why won't it let me through? I don't understand!_

She climbs back up, sits on the edge, and jumps down again.

Nothing.

She tries it repeatedly, over and over again, until her knee twists painfully on the last jump and she simply lays there on the cold dirt ground, curled around herself and sobbing.

The door of the wellhouse opens, and her mother hurries in. "Kagome? Dear? What's wrong? Are you all right?"

Kagome has a moment to think that, really, her mother has no sense of self-preservation, who was to say it was Kagome down there and not some misplaced demon? before she sits up and cries out for her mother and scrambles for the side, hauling herself up and flinging herself into her mother's arms.

"Oh, Mom! It won't let me through! It won't let me go back!"

Her mother's eyes soften, and fill with tears, and she wraps her arms around her daughter. "Sh, dear, sh. Come inside, I'll make you some tea," she says, and really, she knows it's nonsense, tea won't help, but what else can she do?

Mrs. Higurashi is an excellent mother, but not even the best mother can cure a broken heart.

_End_


	53. Dislikes

_Dislikes_

Kagome doesn't like being dirty. She doesn't like being confused, she doesn't like being hurt, and she doesn't like rude people. All in all, Kagome has very few dislikes.

On her fifteenth birthday, she can add a few more to the list – she doesn't like being tied up, she doesn't like being stared at like an animal in a zoo, she doesn't like demons, and she doesn't like the feudal era.

All in all, she decides, her birthday has _sucked._

She runs from the centipede, stumbling to her knees at the base of the tree with the boy on it.

He speaks, and she looks up, stunned. His eyes are golden and beautiful.

He saves her, and then he tries to kill her, and then she subdues him, and then they travel together and she has a home.

She looks into the warm amber eyes of the boy she first saw on the tree, and takes his hand, mindful of his claws, and smiles at him. She likes being there, with him, and she decides maybe the feudal era isn't so bad, after all.

End

A/N – A bit of Inuyasha/Kagome, since I don't think I've actually had that, yet.


	54. Secret

_Secret_

Inuyasha doesn't find her again until after she's been in the present nearly a year, and Kagome has a secret, one that she's afraid to tell him. She's afraid of what he'll think, of how he'll react. And it's only been a week. But with every day that passes, it gets to be harder and harder to tell him.

One day, she gathers Etsu, her secret, into her arms and decides to take the little girl to the park. She can walk, a little, although she has to wear a cap and her silver hair earns her strange looks from the rest of the children.

When she gets there, she automatically scans the park for danger, although her priestess skills are getting lax with no demons to battle. She thinks she catches something from a pair of teenage boys on a park bench, but she figures it's her imagination. They look harmless, just another pair of boys in baseball caps and sunglasses. After all, it's early summer, and bright, and they're tossing a baseball back and forth lightly as they sit and talk.

She notices that one boy has white hair, and the hair of the other boy is very long, but then Etsu starts to babble at her and she puts the two boys out of her mind.

--

They, however, do see her.

"Brother," one says softly.

"Yeah, I see," the other responds. "Cute kid."

His brother gives him a haughty look, one undoubtedly learned from their father. "You see them, but you do not see."

He does not need his brother to take off the sunglasses to know he's rolling his eyes. "No, I see. It's a demon-brat. So what? There are still a lot of 'em out there."

"I was right. You don't see."

"See _what,_ Tai? You're not making any sense."

"Look at her _hair_, idiot. And the girl. Doesn't she seem familiar? Rather like that human priestess Inuyasha's constantly babbling about?"

His brother goes still, the ball sitting in one hand. "Yeah. Now that you mention it, yeah. But -- oh, holy _shit_."

"Your lack of sense never ceases to amaze me."

"Will you stop channeling Dad for a second and tell me what we should do?"

His brother stands. "Make her acquaintance, of course."

"Are you _nuts_?"

A cold look is the only response to that.

"Come _on_, Tai. In case you haven't noticed, I look almost exacly like Dad. I doubt that's something she wants to see while she's taking her baby to the park. Remember the stories? Dad was always trying to kill Uncle Inuyasha!"

"It's a pity he never succeeded," he says casually, and crosses to Kagome, pulling off his sunglasses and tucking them into the pocket of his pants.

"Tai! Taisho, wait for me! Dammit, _Tai!"_

--

Kagome had just gotten Etsu's shoes on straight when the demon -- it looks like a really big bug -- burst from the ground.

Behind her, she hears "Dammit!" and somebody else say, "Aw, man! Where's Dad when you actually _need_ him?"

At this, the first voice replies, "Don't be an idiot, brother. Even though I know it comes naturally to you."

"Fuck you, Tai."

"Language, little brother."

_Oh, yikes. Chills. That cannot possibly be --_

A green whip enters her vision, a very familiar, very demonic looking whip. Another figure -- this one pale -- darts by in her periphial vision, and the demon falls dead a moment later.

She clutches Etsu to her and turns to look at her rescuers.

"It's too dangerous here," the first one says, retrieving his cap and settling it back on his head. "You need to come with us."

"Not _likely_," Kagome says, and realizes Etsu has started to growl -- another trait she picked up from her Daddy, to go with the silver hair and the puppy ears. "You're scaring my little girl."

"Nah," the second boy says, and gives her a charming smile. "That's just Tai. I bet she'll like me." He grins down at Etsu and gently tugs the little girl's silver hair. "Right?"

Etsu immediately grins and reaches for him, and the boy neatly plucks her out of Kagome's arms. "Let's go," he says, and wanders off, tickling Etsu until she giggles.

--

The house they take her to is huge, nearly palatial. They're met by a very pregnant woman who looks at them, shakes her head, and goes outside with a cup of coffee.

"Better not let Dad catch you drinking that," the white-haired boy says. "He'll have puppies."

The woman takes a defiant gulp of her coffee and slams the door behind her.

"That's Mom," he says. "She's always like that."

"She and Father are probably fighting again," the other boy, Tai, says.

"Who _are_ you?" Kagome demands.

"My name's Ichiro," the white-haired boy says, sitting down with a sleepy Etsu on his lap. "This is my brother Taisho."

She spins to look at Taisho, and catches sight of his eyes for the first time. They're familiar eyes -- they should be, her daughter has the same ones.

"Please don't tell me you're Inuyasha's," is all she can manage.

Taisho looks offended. "Do not," he says, "be absurd."

"Nope," Kagome says, and sits down. "Definitely Sesshomaru's."

Ichiro starts to laugh, tugs off his sunglasses and ball cap. "Yeah," he agrees, shaking his shaggy white hair out of his face, "definitely Sesshomaru's." He looks down at Etsu. "This one isn't, though. Were you going to tell him?"

"Of course I was! Wait, you two know Inuyasha?"

"Of _course_ we know Inuyasha," Taisho says. "He is our Uncle, after all."

"But..."

"Yeah," Ichiro agrees. "They don't get along now, either."

Kagome rubs her temples. "This is just getting too weird."

The two boys exchange glances. Taisho arches an eyebrow.

"You think this is strange?" Taisho says. "Wait until you meet Grandfather."

Kagome blinks at him. "...Grandfather?"

"Yep," Ichiro says, then tilts his head. "Dad's home."

Taisho gives him a look of pure irritation, and Kagome thinks it's the first crack in his Sesshomaru-face she's seen. "How do you _do_ that?"

Ichiro shrugs. "I hope Mom got rid of her coffee."

"You have an overly active sense of the obvious."

"At least I have some sense."

"This coming from the boy who stuck his finger into the growling jaws of a bear?"

"He didn't bite me!"

"Of course not," Taisho replies. "He probably thought you would give him heartburn."

"Definitely teenagers," Kagome mutters.

"Hello, Father," Taisho says.

"Hi, Dad. You remember Kagome, right?" Ichiro adds.

"You're late," is all Sesshomaru says.

Kagome sits very stiffly in her chair and gives him a nervous smile. "Hi. Cute kids."

"Hmmph. We expected you over six months ago."

"Um...sorry."

"She's sorry," Ichiro mutters, and rolls his eyes. "It's Uncle Yasha's fault, anyway. Oh, Dad, this is Etsu. Cute, isn't she?"

Sesshomaru looks at the child, and Kagome swears she sees him wince slightly. "I had hoped I was wrong."

"Are you ever?" the pregnant woman inquires casually from the doorway. She's still holding her coffee cup in one hand, even though it has been made blatantly obvious that she's not supposed to be drinking it.

"I would have gladly made an exception this time."

"Hey, what's with all the people?" Inuyasha asks, then freezes in the doorway. "Kagome? What are you doing here? Sessh, what did you do?"

"Sessh?" Kagome echoes.

"Don't call him that," Ichiro advises. "It annoys him."

"As much as it annoys me that you call me Tai," Taisho mutters.

Ichiro grins. "It's a little brother's _job_. Right, Uncle Yash?"

"What are you babbling about? Kagome, what are you doing here? Who's kid?"

"These two saved me from a bug," Kagome explains, gesturing at Ichiro and Taisho.

"Were you seen?" Sesshomaru asks, glancing at his sons.

"Um..." from Ichiro.

"Of course not," from Taisho.

The woman winces. "That's a yes."

"How many people?" Sesshomaru asks, and Kagome notices that he's still not one to be distracted.

"Um..." Again, from Ichiro.

"Only three or four," Taisho said. "And the priestess and the brat are two of them."

"Did it disintegrate?"

"Yeah," Ichiro said. "It was pretty nifty." Etsu grins up and him and suddenly yanks on his hair. "Ouch. OK, junior, that's attached."

"Who's kid?" Inuyasha repeats.

"Yours," Sesshomaru said calmly, walking by his brother.

"Huh?"

_End_


	55. Well Met

_Well Met_

She gets used to it, eventually, the thought that she's never going to see them again. It hurts, so she doesn't think about it, just goes about with life as normal.

As normal as she can, now. She sits with her friends at lunch, and they learn not to ask about 'that violent, psychotic boyfriend of yours, Kagome' because she has a tendency to burst into tears and flee.

Eventually, though, she does adapt, and doesn't cry anymore when they ask about him. She just shrugs, and says 'we had a difference of opinion' and leaves it at that, because their last conversation -- if you want to call it that -- really was a difference of opinion.

One day, as she's leaving the shrine to go to McDonald's with her friends, her bag slung over her shoulder so she can copy Ayumi's notes, she thinks she sees a flash of silver across the street, and quickly shakes her head, dismissing it as a flight of fancy.

But when she looks again, her eyes meet gold, and she's frozen for a second, stopping so suddenly she nearly stumbles. Her lips form one word -- more of a breath, perhaps a prayer, than anything. _Inuyasha..._

With that, he seems to be able to move, darting back down the sidewalk, his shoulder's hunched and his head bowed, that distinctive silver hair trailing out behind him. She darts into the street, ignoring the screeching tires and honking horns, bolts across to the sidewalk, and sees his nearing the corner.

And it's definitely him. That hair, those eyes, and he's even wearing a red T-shirt. But he's almost away from her, so she yells the first two words that pop into her head. They're not 'hey, you' or 'Inuyasha, wait!'

No, the first words that leave her mouth are _SIT, BOY!_

She hears a familiar cry, and there's a flash of light as this spector, this perhaps bit of wishful thinking, crashes face-first into the sidewalk, leaving a crater.

_Boy, for somebody so light on his feet, he really does make a dent!_

She races down the sidewalk, skidding to stop as he lifts his smudged face from the dent in the pavement.

His words are harsh, angry, and perhaps beautiful. _Dammit, wench, what was that for?!?_

She drops her bag, stares at him, then sits down on the sidewalk, buries her face in her hands, and bursts into tears.

_Oh, no! Don't do that! Hey! Stop that! Kagome!_

_End_


	56. Follower

_Follower_

He's a follower. That's all he ever has been, and he's content to stay that way. After all, he's not brave, and he's not smart, and this is _Koga_, after all, and he would follow Koga to the end of the Earth.

Of course, sometimes Koga's not that bright either, but he would sooner cut off a limb or challenge Sesshomaru to a duel than point that out.

Because, basically, the two amount to the same thing -- slow, painful death.

Although sometimes he desperately wishes Koga would slow down, he usually doesn't wish _too_ hard, because, well, Koga was always ahead of them, and therefore usually between them and danger. That is just the way they like it.

However, there are also times he just wants to roll his eyes and smack Koga upside the head and tell him to buy a clue instead of another blow with Tetsusaiga. Kagome doesn't love him, Kagome will never love him, and the only reason Kagome's so damn nice to him anyway is either because that's just the way she is, or she knows it drives Inuyasha absolutely up the wall, and maybe a little bit closer to admitting that he loves her, too. The idiot.

Either way, he has discussed it with Hakkaku, and they have both agreed to stay the hell out of it. The whole love triangle thing -- well, it can't be a triangle, if you count Inuyasha's dead priestess it has at least four corners -- is way beyond them.

So they chase after Koga, watch from a safe distance while he and Inuyasha beat on each other, and usually chose a safe seeming moment to catch up.

Ginta may be a follower, but that doesn't make him an _idiot_.

_End_


	57. Nothing

_Nothing_

Kanna was the first of Naraku's incarnations, the first and most probably the best. She was still, silent, and obediant. She did not speak unless she was spoken to, and she was very nearly emotionless, although she was far from stupid.

There were times when Naraku forgot that, usually until she spoke in her soft, breathy, oddly compelling little girl's voice, standing still and silent and cradling her mirror against her.

In her lack of emotion, she was everything that Naraku sought to make himself.

Naraku does not realize that there are times when Kanna envies him his emotions, he and Kagura both. She has wondered what it is like to feel things. As time passes, and she watches Naraku's obsession with Kikyo and Inuyasha, watches Kagura's obsession with freedom and her infatuation with the demon lord -- the demon lord that is, in his own way, much like Kanna, in his silence, his thoughtfulness, his lack of outward emotion -- she decides that she is better off the way she is. Emotions seem to be more trouble than they are worth.

In the final battle, her loyalty remains to Naraku -- but she is not loyal enough to die for him, and if it is a choice between her 'father' and herself, she will choose herself. Because her life is not much, but it is hers, and, like her mirror, is one of the few things she can claim as her own.

She wonders, at first, if he is truly dead, or if he will come back and take his vengeance for her betrayal.

She stares down into the mirror, listens to Kagura rant and laugh and dance about finally being _free_, free at _last_, the bastard is finally _dead_, and wonders if Kagura will be so joyful should Naraku return. They have claimed their hearts from him, and Kagura seems obsessed with its steady beat.

Kanna is indifferent, as indifferent as she was to her creation, to Kagura's, to Naraku's death.

She was created from the void, and is the perfect nothing.

_End_


	58. Plea

_Plea_

When he was young, an orphan, an outcast, a strange child with a fondness for spiders, he swore to himself that one day, he would be something, be powerful, be a force to be reckoned with. Then, those who made him an outcast, made him a shunned thing, would pay for their insolence in blood.

He grew up, grew into a young and strong man, a bandit. He was not something, not powerful, still not a force to be reckoned with, though he swore to himself that though it may take time, it would come about.

Then came the fire, the burns, the crisped and blackened skin, the lost eye -- and he knew that time was past. There was nothing he could do now save die.

Then came Kikyo, she who helped him, nursed him, tried to heal him even though she knew he was not a good man, not truly something worth saving. He wanted her, desired her, burned with a lust for her that made the fire that scorched him seem a pale and pallid thing in comparison.

But there was an obstacle -- ah, yes, an obstacle, for was their not that young upstart half-demon in his way, in between he and Kikyo? For truly, her own feelings for him -- those of pity, and little more -- were worth little of his consideration.

But Kikyo was the guardian of something he desired more than he desired her, a great and powerful Jewel, one that could make him something, make him powerful, make him a force to be reckoned with.

So, in the dark loneliness of the cave where he suffered, he raised his voice in a plea, begged and pleaded and promised his soul to those who would make him powerful, make him _something_.

His pleas were answered.

And Onigumo was consumed.

_End_


	59. At The End Of All Things

_At the End of All Things _

Ichiro wanders, looking for a good place to watch the world end. His brother is gone, with most of the humans of this world. He has taken his own children, and Ichiro's as well, and their sister.

But Ichiro remains. Mostly it is because this is his home, this is the place he has been his whole life, and he does not seek adventure like his brother, nor does he have Taisho's stubborn streak.

He is not old, by demon standards, but he is tired. If his home is going to go, then he is going with it. His memories are here, and all that he has left of his mother.

Partially, though, he will not leave his father. Sesshomaru is not by his side, but he knows his father is here, on this world, and he will die with his father.

_You're being foolish,_ Taisho's voice says, in the back of his mind. _But if this is the way you want it, so be it. I am not ready to die._

_Take care of my children_.

_I will. Goodbye, Brother._

_I love you, Tai._

A disdainful sniff. _You always were too sentimental._

Which is a very Taisho way of saying _I love you, too, idiot._

He is standing on a cliff, to the east of the family burial grounds. He can see the sky exploding, the oxygen in the atmosphere beginning to ignite. Soon, he knows, the Earth beneath his feet will begin to tremble.

He starts moving again, reaching the tombs of his family that go back hundreds of generations. He kneels at the foot of one marker, running the tips of his fingers over the name. He does not speak, but he feels the words nonetheless._ Hello, Mother_.

He misses her, more now than ever. Part of him wishes she could see this, such a great and terrible beauty, but another part is glad, because he never could stand to see her cry.

"I'm sure she misses you, as well," his father says from behind him.

Ichiro smiles. Somehow, he knew his father would come to this place. Possibly for the same reasons he has. "I thought you'd be here," he says.

"It has always been the best spot for a midnight view. Perhaps it was the reason our ancestors chose it."

There is a moment of silence between them, and for perhaps the first time in his life, Ichiro has no immediate need to fill it. He is more like his mother, who always needed conversation, was always talking, joking, laughing…so full of life, even so close to her death.

"We knew you came here," he says suddenly. "Sometimes, I would come to bring her flowers, and there would be something here – a flower, or a stone – and I knew you had come."

"I could not help it."

Ichiro tilts his head back, watching the sky. "It was worse when she was gone," he says. "Mother was…life itself, it feels, sometimes. She made everything better."

"Indeed. She was the only reason I held on for so long."

"I know."

Silence falls again.

"Well, well, well," says a familiar voice. "Looks like the gang's all here." Koga steps into the light, holding Jaken by the back of his robe. "Look who we found, cowering in a bush."

"Unhand me! I simply lost Lord Sesshomaru!"

"That's why he was having hysterics," Ayame says dryly.

Koga casually drops the sniveling imp at Sesshomaru's foot, ruffles Ichiro's hair – a habit he has never lost, even though Ichiro is well into his own fourth millennium – and presses kiss to his fingertips, then his sister's name. "Hey, Sis."

"I would have thought you would have gone to the wolf tombs," Sesshomaru says. "Where your families are."

Koga wraps an arm around his wife. "My family's right here," he says simply. "Even you, you overstuffed mutt."

"You can still leave," says another voice, and another figure joins them.

Ichiro looks at his grandfather, who has already cheated death once, and wonders why he has not gone. Then he looks at how his grandfather is dressed – in his old robes and armor – and thinks he understands. There has not been a place for Inutaisho in more time than Ichiro can probably comprehend.

"Send the ship, old man," Koga says. "There isn't a place for us anymore, either."

"I figured I would try, for your children's sakes. I promised them I would."

Koga sighs irritably. "Damn interfering pups," he says, but then he has to turn and press his face into Ayame's hair to hide his tears.

"I'll tell them to go," Inutaisho says, then pulls something from his sleeve and punches in a command.

In the distance, they hear the rumble of an engine, and Ichiro knows it's his last hope.

He lets it go. Hope, he thinks, is a vastly overrated thing, and smiles a little. He reaches for his father's hand, closing his fingers around Sesshomaru's.

"So this is the end, huh?" Inutaisho says. "I would have thought it would have been at the hands of a demon. Or you," he adds, directing the last part at his son.

"I _am_ a demon," Sesshomaru points out.

"No, you're what man should have been," Inutaisho corrects. "As are you all. I'm glad to have met you."

"Same to you, old man," Koga says.

"Yes," Ayame murmurs.

Silence falls, and Ichiro looks at them each in turn, memorizing their faces, in case he cannot find them in the next world. He loves them all, more than ever in this moment, and wishes Taisho could see them like he does, at this moment. They are beautiful, he thinks, and brave.

"It's time," Sesshomaru says.

Ichiro stands, taking his place between his grandfather and his father. Koga and Ayame wrap their arms around each other, and Ichiro clutches his father's hand, feeling like a child.

They stand like that, gathered together, as the world ends.

---

Taisho watches the Earth explode, cursing humans. It was they who ran the planet to rack and ruin, they who have, now, finally, after so many eons of trying, succeeded in destroying his family.

"What are we going to do now?" Yuki asks, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Precisely what they would have wanted," Taisho says. "We are going to survive." He takes his sister's hand, a rare show of emotion from the normally reserved demon. "We are going to do better – we are going to _live_."

End


	60. Child

_Child_

He is in the small room that serves as his office when she seeks him out. They have been married nearly four hundred years, but there are moments his wife still makes him nervous.

The last few days have been one of them, which is why he is sitting in this small room, poring over treaties and other documents instead of spending time with his beautiful wife.

The door bangs open, and his head jerks up in surprise. He did not hear her coming, which is not surprising -- the lady in question is as much a warrior as he is, and a stealthy one at that.

"Bastard!" she screams, and chucks at vase at his head.

"Yukishima -- what the _hell_ -- " He ducks just in time to avoid having the vase shatter against his skull instead of the wall.

"You uncaring, insensitive _louse_!" she continues, and charges at him -- the most reckless he has ever seen her. They have battled to a draw many times, and he has never seen her so reckless. He manages to catch her wrist, and her other hand jerks up, grabbing _his_ wrist before he can restrain her.

"What is going on?" he demands, absolutely and totally confused.

"You uncaring bastard!" she cries, her face settling in a scowl that is rather attractive. Of course, he always thinks she's beautiful. She looks sad, and he wants to hold her, to cradle her to him, but he knows her well enough to know that such a course of action is unwise, to say the least. She'd probably disembowel him.

"We've established that," he snaps, his voice going cold in defense to her hot anger. "What is your issue with me, my Lady?"

"I'm pregnant!" she cries. "I don't want a brat! What kind of warrior can I be with a pup hanging on my tail?"

With that, her grip on his wrist tightens, and she attempts to use the toxin in her claws to sear his flesh from his bones.

He jerks back with an angry curse, but before he can retaliate, her words -- and the meaning of them -- strike him, and all the strength goes out of his legs, causing him to sink to the floor. "A...a pup?" he echoes, wondering what this means.

Her brilliant, pale green eyes glare down at him, and she plants her hands on her hips. "Have you gone deaf, Inutaisho? Yes, a pup. You foolish, idiotic male. A child. A babe. A pup."

"We're...going to have a child," he repeats.

"Did I not already say that? Several times, I believe. _Do_ listen."

"A child," he repeats, in an endlessly wondering tone of voice. He stares up at her, his eyes wide and stunned. "You're certain?"

"Would I be here if with these words if I was not?" she asks coolly.

He continues to stare up at her, trying to picture their child -- their son, already he is certain the pup will be male -- and can only come up with a small child with her face and his eyes.

He does not mind the image at all.

_End_


	61. Safe

_Safe_

She's been alone for as long as she can remember clearly. There are distant memories of a pretty woman with gentle hands and a kind smile, even more distant ones of a tall man with strong hands.

But they're gone, they're dead, and now it's just Rin.

She has no place in the village, though she has a home -- if you want to call a battered, leaky hut a home -- and she knows the villagers would be just as happy if she just disappeared entirely.

So she plays in the forest, usually from dawn until dusk, eating berries and things when she's hungry, dancing in circles and laughing to herself when she's not. She never sees other people, and this is the way she likes it.

But one day, this changes. She sees a flicker of white, a flash of red through the leaves of a bush, pokes her head around to look. There's a man lying on the grass, up against a tree. At least, she _thinks_ it's a man, although he is unlike any other man she's seen. His skin is pale, marked with lines and a dark crescent moon, and his eyes seem to be closed.

She approaches, slowly, hesitantly, and he jerks up to face her, his eyes flaring red, his fangs bared, the stripes on his face going red and jagged. He is terrifying, and beautiful, and she was right -- this isn't a man, anymore than she is.

It's a demon.

She cringes back for a moment, then approaches again, more hesitantly. He watches her warily, his eyes not fading, and she wonders why he does not move, to attack, to kill.

She stands there and watches him for a long moment, until he leans back against the tree and turns his face away. She slips away, and returns the next day, bearing food. She is rebuffed, but she tries again.

_I told you, I don't need anything from you._

She scurries forward, holding out her hands with her meager offering of food.

Silence holds, and he keeps his face turned. _Where did you get those bruises?_

She raises her head, looks at him. _You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. _Then she smiles, and starts to laugh, happy for the first time in forever. He cared. He wanted to know. And she knew, demon or no, she had never been anywhere safer.

_Why are you smiling? I don't care, I was just curious._

And Rin laughs, and smiles at him. Because, really, he's not that bad. And he really _does_ care, and that's good enough for her.

_End_


	62. Resurrection

_Resurrection_

The world was not as he remembered it -- though, admittedly, what he remembered was clouded by two hundred years of absence -- and seemed to bright, too loud. After the peace he had just left, it was quite a shock to the system. And he was off his guard.

That, he knew, was what they wanted -- perhaps even what they were counting on. They had forgotten his power in his absence, had forgotten his strength, his adaptability. He was not one they could take down easily.

He did not intend to go down at all.

One charged, seeing him down and immobile. He kept his eyes lowered, bared his fangs at the ground. When the demon was close enough, he swept up his claws and pierced its heart.

He heard them gasp, felt them shift back, and rose to his feet, standing as tall and proud as the lord he had been.

He had no idea what magic had been used, no idea how they had managed such a feat as pulling one as powerful as he from the afterworld.

On an order from their leader, the remaining demons attacked, seeking strength in numbers. Moments later, they lay dead around him, including their leader. He would get no answers from them, and thought perhaps this was a mistake.

He heard them approach from behind him, heard one of them -- a half-demon, by the scent -- draw a sword.

The scent was familiar, a mixture of his and that of a woman he remembered, a woman he had loved. _Izayoi..._

"All right, who the hell are you?" the voice that speaks is harsh, angry, and so very young.

He half-turns, regards the son he never knew. Never had the chance to know. The boy has grown, although that probably isn't surprising. He is not as tall as he, or as his brother, but he has the same clear amber eyes.

Perched on the half-demon's shoulder is a tiny, familiar figure. It gasps and tumbles to the grass when it sees his face. "My...my Lord Inutaisho!"

One of them, a woman dressed in the garb of a demon exterminator, gasps, while the another, this one a monk, asks, "Who?"

He fixes his eyes on the tiny figure. "Hello, Myoga."

_End_


	63. Reunion

_Reunion_

He has grown used to the constant bickering, although it did take some adjusting. Jaken is not one to let the opportunity for an insult pass him, and Kiare is not one to let such things lie.

He and Rin have realized the pattern, and learned to avoid getting dragged into their... 'discussions.'

Rin has settled in for the night, laying on her back near Ah-Un and watching the stars. Kiare is perched in a tree not far away, where she can see the whole of the clearing. Her back is firmly to the trunk.

A peaceful scene, another thing he has adjusted to. The breeze carries a scent to him, one as familiar as his own, as Rin's, as Jaken's and Kiare's.

One that has been gone for over two centuries.

He rises to his feet, turning from the camp and walking. Kiare drops down next to him, touching his arm. "What's going on? Is something wrong?"

He looks down at her for a long moment. "It is nothing you need to concern yourself with. Watch Rin."

She looks as though she wants to argue for a moment, then nods and steps back.

He follows the scent for nearly a mile before he happens upon his father.

Inutaisho stands with his back to his elder son, though he had to know of his approach. A moment passes in silence before he turns to regard the demon his son has become. His face is carefully expressionless, as they did not part -- and had not lived -- on the best of terms.

He knows his brother is there, but he does not acknowledge him, or his companions. They have nothing to do with the reason he is here. They are watching with wide eyes, Inuyasha tightly gripping Tetsusaiga's hilt, Myoga sitting on the grass and gaping at his father.

"Sesshomaru."

"Father."

Inuyasha takes a step back, glancing back and forth between the two of them. Sango's grip on her Hiraikotsu shifts nervously.

Inutaisho's eyes narrow on his elder son's face.

Not another word is spoken before Sesshomaru turns his back and walks away. His father watches him leave, his expression carefully blank.

"All right," Inuyasha says, sounding completely lost. "Will somebody _please_ tell me what the hell is going on?"

_End_


	64. Realization

_Realization_

Sesshomaru has spent so much time hating his father he's not sure if he can stop.

The boy he was -- the one who looked up to, nearly worshipped, his father -- died long ago, on a field of snow, clutching his dying mother's hand. The demon that took the place of that boy is cold, hard, and has no room for the petty attachments his father seemed to so enjoy forming.

He had himself convined of that for so long that it was all he was, until Rin. So many had tried to crack the icy outer shell, so many had failed, but all it took was one small, trusting human child.

He had taken her in, raised her, cared for her, and, eventually, loved her as a daughter. He would kill for her, though he was willing to kill for many things.

It was the realization that he would die for her, as well, that came as such a shock.

And he wonders if this is what his father felt for his sons. He does not wonder if his father was proud of him -- such a thing is truly irrelevant -- but he wonders if he felt this same fierce, protective urge as he feels toward Rin, and, to a lesser extent, Jaken and Kiare.

After his mother's death, Sesshomaru hated his father -- hated him for not being fast enough, for not saving her, for not exacting the proper vengeance for her death.

It has taken him this long to realize that his father may have hated him, a little, as well. For surviving when his mother had not, for so resembling the dead woman. His very presence caused his father pain.

The child Sesshomaru had been had revelled in his father's pain, seeing it as the proper payment.

The demon he has become has no need for such petty emotions, and so puts them aside. Instead, he recognizes the pain for what it was, and thinks perhaps he will be able to forgive his father.

He turns, looks at the people sleeping around the fire, those who have become, almost entirely against his will, a family. _His_ family.

And that realization is perhaps the most shocking of all.

_End_


	65. Regret

_Regret_

After a long explanation -- not truly an explanation, for too many of the answers were 'I don't know' -- Inuyasha leaps into a tree to sulk, and Inutaisho settles down to rest at the base.

As he watches the night pass, he thinks of many things. His sons, his wives, his life.

His regrets are too many to think of, but they crowd his mind nonetheless.

He regrets not saving the life of his first wife, of not being with her, protecting her, the day she died.

He regrets the disappointment of his son, of the part he had in making Sesshomaru as cold as he was.

He regrets leaving Izayoi to raise their son alone. He regrets the life Inuyasha has been forced to live. He regrets that his sons seem far beyond the reach of trust or even simple companionship, at times.

Sesshomaru more than Inuyasha.

He turns, looks at his younger son as dawn breaks. He regrets many things, but he does not regret loving Izayoi, though he could not stay with her. He does not regret their son, although he could not raise the boy. He does not regret his first love, nor the son that came from that union, though Sesshomaru will never forgive him.

He cannot regret such miracles. Although he regrets his failures to them, he cannot regret _them_.

_End_


	66. Reality

_Reality_

He was just so damn _infuriating._

Just when he was finally starting to recover from Kagome's damn vanishing act, the old man had to come and pop back into the land of the living.

Inuyasha folded his arms over his chest and glared at the top of his father's head. The old demon was currently charming Sango, although he had yet to figure out _how_.

Well, he knew how. The old dog complimented her on her fighting style, and suddenly -- before you knew it, the two of them were all buddy-buddy, fast friends!

Traitors.

Sango and Miroku leave to return to the village, and his father relaxes against the tree.

"Inuyasha, you are being childish."

Inuyasha mutters something and resists the urge to see if he can get Tetsusaiga into the top of the old man's head.

His father shrugs slightly, closes his eyes, and relaxes back against the tree.

Finally, Inuyasha can't take it anymore. He leaps to the ground and glares. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"

He opens his eyes, arches an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You think you can just come back, poof back to life, and expect everything to be all perfect?"

"Have I said so?" he asks mildly.

"Well, I've got news for you!" Inuyasha continued hotly, ignoring him. "I ain't about to forget how you fucked us over, old man! You left her to die! You just up and abandoned her, and she died! She was just a weak human!"

In a second, his father is on his feet, his claws at Inuyasha's throat, his eyes blazing red. "You ignorant, arrogant little fool! Abandon her? I _died _for her, you ungrateful brat! For both of you! So that she could live, _survive_, with _my son_. And if you think the fact that Izayoi died, the fact that she was human, makes her weak, you are more of a fool than your brother thinks." He shoves Inuyasha back, his eyes still blazing. "I see you are more my son," he says contemptuously. "No son of your mother's could be so stupid."

Inuyasha leaps back to his feet, his hand dropping to Tetsusaiga's hilt.

Inutaisho smirks, baring his fangs. "Do you truly think you can defeat me, _boy_?" he mocks. "Perhaps your brother, but not you. After all, you are the son of a human, are you not? And what are they, if not weak? You said so yourself."

Inuyasha draws Tetsusaiga, forcing the blade to transform through sheer force of will. He brings the sword up, ready to swing, when his father's hand clamps around his on the hilt. The blazing red eyes narrow. The glowing blade stands between them.

The sky darkens abruptly, thunder rumbling and lightning striking the ground nearby. And suddenly, they are both thrust back, and Sesshomaru stands between them, Tokijin in hand.

"I had not expected you to be the first to draw a sword against him, little brother."

Inuyasha bares his fangs at his father, who is now standing away from both of them, perfectly serene.

"Well, if he wasn't so damn _infuriating_ --" Inuyasha growls.

"Enough."

Inuyasha stops and gapes at his brother. Inutaisho merely arches an eyebrow.

"Don't tell me _enough_!" Inuyasha snaps finally. "You should have heard what he said!"

"It is not my fault you cannot accept the truth," Sesshomaru says flatly.

Inuyasha spins on him, bringing Tetsusaiga around. A moment later, he is flying backwards, and Sesshomaru hasn't moved.

"ENOUGH!"

Inuyasha looks at his father, and decides, temporarily, that he might be better off on the ground.

"I see things never change," Inutaisho says, directing this comment at his elder son. Sesshomaru merely arches an eyebrow. "You are both utterly exhausting," he mutters. He shakes his head and turns his back on them both. "I grew weary of battle long before my death. You'll excuse me if I don't have the urge to continue fighting after my resurrection."

With that, he walks away from them, vanishing into the forest.

"Then you will be disappointed in this era," Sesshomaru says softly, and sheathes Tokijin back at his side.

"All right," Inuyasha snaps, "what the hell was that all about?"

Sesshomaru merely looks at him for a long moment, then turns his back and walks away.

The half-demon stares after him for a moment, simply stunned. Then, "You know, I'm getting really tired of people walking away from me!"

_End_


	67. Reacquaintance

_Reacquaintance_

He honestly expects neither of his sons to seek him out. So he is surprised when Sesshomaru appears before him.

He looks up, arches an eyebrow, then returns his gaze to the lands before him. "You have done well."

Sesshomaru says nothing, and he is not surprised. He had not expected a reply. He says nothing, as well, simply gazes out at the lands before him. Not far away, the tombs of their family stand in the silent fields.

It has always been one of his favorite spots, if only for the peace.

And a moment later, that peace is shattered by a shrill, terrified scream -- the scream of a human child. Inutaisho is on his feet in a moment -- he is not one to leave a child undefended -- but Sesshomaru is already gone.

One eyebrow arches. For someone who loathes humans as his son does, that is a strange reaction indeed. Overcome by curiosity, and more than little confused, he follows.

The scene that greets him makes his son's behavior -- all of it, for all the centuries of Sesshomaru's life -- pale in comparison.

The child is huddled against a rock, as Sesshomaru slays her attacker -- a dragon. One quick swipe of his blade, and the beast disintegrates. Even before the ashes have settled, Sesshomaru has turned to the girl. "Rin."

The little girl nods. "I'm all right," she says quickly, then bursts out, "I'm sorry, Lord Sesshomaru! I know I was supposed to stay put, but I was curious! I'm so sorry, my Lord! It won't happen again!"

He nodded once. The little girl beams up at him.

"What the hell happened?" a new voice, this one decidedly female and slightly out of breath, demands.

Sesshomaru turns his gaze to the newcomer, a young half-demon. Inutaisho leans back against a tree to watch the show.

The girl blows her bangs -- which are dripping wet, and the rest of her isn't very dry, either -- out of her eyes and meets his expressionless look with a glare of her own. "Well? What happened?" She steps forward and kneels next to the girl. "You all right, Rin?"

"Where were you?" Sesshomaru asks.

"Bathing," she replies calmly, smoothing the little girl's hair and getting a smile in return. "I was starting to offend myself."

"It was very scary, Kiare!" the little girl exclaims, earning an unnoticed wince from the half-demon. "There was a dragon! Lord Sesshomaru slayed it! He saved me!"

The girl -- woman -- winces again. "I see."

Something else stumbles out of the forest, hunched over a staff and gasping for breath. "What is it, Rin? I heard your scream all the way from -- er...Hello, Lord Sesshomaru."

"And where were you, Jaken?"

"I, uh, er, well...I fell asleep, my Lord."

"You were supposed to be watching her," Sesshomaru says, his face still expressionless.

"That was the mongrel's responsibilty, my Lord! I thought she had it in hand!"

"I told you I was going to bathe, Jaken," Kiare says through clenched teeth. "You said something along the lines of 'Oh, yes, do go! You stink of human!" She blinks once, as her eyes land on Inutaisho. "Who's, uh, your friend?"

Jaken blinks. "What ails you -- Ah!" And falls on his face. "My Lord Inutaisho! Er, welcome back?"

"Oh," the woman says. "Hi."

Jaken leaps to his feet and slams his staff across her back, knocking her down. In an instant, she is back on her feet, blade in hand. "Wanna try that again, imp?" she snarls.

He swung at her again. "What are you doing? BOW!"

She swung her foot back and kicked him, sending him sailing.

"Don't blame me if you're slain, you ungrateful wench!" he yells, still airborne.

The little girl turns around, beams at him, and bows deeply before overbalancing and falling over.

Inutaisho chuckles before he can stop himself. She is an adorable child, he thinks, as she lays in the grass and laughs at herself.

Kiare suppresses a smile and picks Rin up. "Come on," she says. "It's time for you to be in bed. And I have to get dry."

Jaken limps after them, still berating the girl for her lack of respect.

After a moment, there is the sound of a blade being drawn, a long, drawn-out yell of "LOOORD SEEESSSHOMARUUU!" and a yelp of pain.

Followed by silence.

After a long moment, Inutaisho says, "Interesting group" in as mild a voice as he can manage.

"You ungrateful wench!"

"If you call me 'wench' one more time, I'm going to make you regret ever being hatched, toadboy!"

"Oh, look! Flowers!"

"No, Rin! Rin! Come back here! RIN!"

Finally, he cannot take it anymore. He sits and dissolves into laughter.

"At least life must be interesting," he manages, finally.

"They have their uses."

"Indeed," he replies, and stands. "I had not imagined you with such companions. If any."

"Nor had I."

"How did you come to travel with a human child?" he asks.

Sesshomaru says nothing.

"Ah," his father replies. "As you wish it." With that, he turns.

"Will you seek out So'unga?"

"I haven't decided," he replies mildly. "But possibly, yes. You have not found it, I see."

"No. You made sure they were beyond my reach."

"Tetsusaiga was not meant for you. As for So'unga..." He shrugs. "I do not trust that blade with the life of my son."

"No such blade could control me," Sesshomaru says.

"Now," his father counters. "And now you have no use for such a blade."

Sesshomaru says nothing, which has been the reply to most of what he says to his son for so long it no longer even irritates him. He inclines his head politely and leaves.

_End_


	68. Overheard

_Overheard_

Inuyasha has learned to listen when others speak, although it's taken him centuries. You can learn all sorts of interesting things this way, such as where there's a demon that needs killing.

He is relaxing in an inn, slowly eating a bowl of rice, when he tunes into the conversation of the demons behind him. This is one of the few places that demons are still welcome, and they take full advantage of the elderly owner's hospitality -- and they always pay well for it, though the fare isn't expensive.

"Never thought I'd see the day," one of them says. "I was starting to think he might be the kind that doesn't...appreciate the company of a woman, if you understand my meaning."

The other snorts. "I'm still not sure he isn't," he grumbles. "And I'll never call that little bastard my Lord, either. I followed his father to the end of the Earth, and would again -- but there's a lot of difference between the Inu no Taisho and his elder son, let me tell you."

Inuyasha's ears perk up.

"And now this," the demon continues. "Marrying that...wench, breeding with her -- corrupting their line, that's all. It was bad enough when the Lord took that human wench to wife, and they had their little half-breed brat -- now the elder son expects us to swear fealty to the child of a half-breed? Not happening."

"Oh, come now," the first one says, and he sounds uncomfortable. "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with his lady --"

"Lady? Ha!"

"And it'll be your death if he hears those words. He's soft on her, not on the rest of us. To speak against his lady is death, and you know it."

"I'll no sooner swear fealty to that brat than I would have to the Inu no Taisho's half-breed. Or his human wench. And where would Lord Sesshomaru hear of this, eh? He doesn't have ears everywhere."

Inuyasha stands, one hand dropping to Tetsusaiga. "Gee," he says, pitching his voice loud enough to carry, "some people really should learn to pay more attention to their surroundings."

The second demon pushes to his feet, spins to face him. His face is set in a scowl. "Runnin' to the Lord, are you?" he asks, and then he sees Inuyasha, and his eyes go wide.

"I bet he'd be mighty interested to know what people are sayin' about his wife," Inuyasha says, casually examining his claws. "The Sesshomaru I know ain't big on havin' his decisions questioned."

"I don't appreciate having my conversations eavesdropped on, half-breed."

"And I don't appreciate hearin' my mother called a wench."

The demon laughed mockingly. "That's all she was," he hissed. "An opportunistic wench. No better than a common whore."

Those are his last words, as Tetsusaiga sings from it's sheath and the demon's head leaves his shoulders.

Inuyasha turns narrowed amber eyes to the demon's companion, who raises his hands in surrender. "No offense from me, my Lord -- I had no problem with you or your lady mother. And I, unlike my unfortunate companion, am more than able to keep my opinions to myself."

Inuyasha sheaths Tetsusaiga. "See that you do," he growls, and stalks from the inn.

As always, his curiosity has gotten the better of him, and he has to know what those two were talking about. He knew Sesshomaru was married, although he'd never met the woman Sesshomaru called his wife.

And now -- he learned she was a half-breed? He couldn't credit it, couldn't believe that Sesshomaru would marry one, let alone have her bear his children, his heirs.

This was something he was going to have to see for himself.

_End_


	69. First Meeting

_First Meeting_

Sesshomaru has always been a wanderer, to the best of Inuyasha's knowledge, never settling in one place. That's why he's surprised to learn that his brother hasn't moved from the palatial residence he's called home for the past century or so.

He stands under a tree in the front of the building, leaning casually against the trunk. If his brother is here -- and he doesn't think he is -- he'll know he's there.

Eventually, he'll get annoyed.

It's not Sesshomaru who comes to the front of the house, but a child -- and a small one -- with silver-streaked black hair and the amber eyes that seem to run in their family.

_Aw, crap. He _bred.

The little boy's eyes go wide, then narrow. "Who are you?" The voice is disconcertingly adult from such a small form, but this doesn't surprise Inuyasha. Sesshomaru always gave the impression of being born with a mental age of a millenia or so -- why should his brat be any different?

Inuyasha narrows his own eyes. "You first, runt."

"This is my house, half-breed."

"Oh, yeah, you're Sesshomaru's, all right."

"Oh. You must be Inuyasha, then." The boy folds his arms over his chest and adopts a superior expression. If he were a few years older -- and a few feet taller -- it might be insulting, but at the moment, it just makes Inuyasha want to laugh. "I thought, from the tales, you would be more impressive."

"Oh, gee, Sesshomaru talks about me? I'm flattered," Inuyasha says, sarcasm heavy in his voice.

"Hmmph. Father has better things to speak of than such a small half-breed. We hear such tales from the imp, Jaken."

"Anybody ever told you you need an attitude adjustment, kid?" Inuyasha asks, and already he's itching to be the one to deliver it.

The boy's eyes narrow again. "Do not speak to me in such --"

"Taisho."

The boy flinches, and ducks his head. Inuyasha tries not to laugh. There's a woman standing not far away -- pretty enough, he supposes, but not really anything all _that_ impressive -- her arms folded, one foot tapping. Her expression is one he remembers from his own childhood -- fond exasperation.

"Hello, Mother," the boy says, trying not to sound guilty and not doing a very good job.

"What are you doing, Taisho?"

"The half-breed --"

The slur earns a low growl from his mother, and the boy quickly stutters, stumbling backwards to rephrase.

"Er, I mean, this demon is trespassing, Mother."

The woman arches an eyebrow. "Really."

"Yes, Mother."

"And you didn't come to tell your Father or I because..."

"I'm _not_ as helpless as Ichiro."

"And this would keep Inuyasha from reducing you to a crater, how?"

"I would find a way around the Tetsusaiga."

The woman rolls her eyes. "Of course you would. Go inside, Taisho. I'll speak with Inuyasha."

"But, Mother --"

She arches an eyebrow at him, and his shoulders slump before he turns and storms into the house, being sure to slam the door behind him.

The woman closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

"Gee," Inuyasha says after a moment, "I see he got all of Sesshomaru's charm."

The woman snorts. "And his superiority complex, too," she mutters, then turns to look at him. "Welcome. Sesshomaru's in the mountains at the moment."

He shrugs. "Didn't really come to see him. Heard some stuff in one of the inns, came to see how much of it was true."

"And?"

"Seems like all of it. Weird."

From the back of the house comes something that sounds like a warcry, and this earns another eyeroll from the woman. "He's home," she says dryly.

"You have more than one?" Inuyasha asks, because that was the cry of a child, and the brat he met seemed like he was too full of himself to do such a thing.

"Two. Twins."

Inuyasha shudders.

When Sesshomaru appears in the doorway, Inuyasha stands up straight. He does not exactly fear his brother, but he's not about to let Sesshomaru catch him off-guard, either.

"Inuyasha."

"Sesshomaru."

"I would have expected you sooner," Sesshomaru says.

Inuyasha shrugs. "Hey, ain't like you sent me a birth announcement. Congratulations, by the way."

There's a crash from inside the house, earning a soft curse from Sesshomaru's wife. She brushes past him quickly, obviously trying to minimize the damage. Next, they hear a cry that sounds suspiciously like Jaken.

"Maybe I should take back the congratulations part," Inuyasha says after a moment. He is, once more, trying not to laugh. "Sure the little wife can manage all the trouble?"

Sesshomaru arches an eyebrow. "She is more than capable. Is there a reason you're here?"

He shrugs. "Just came to check it out. Heard your wife was a half-breed. Didn't believe it till I saw her."

Sesshomaru does not bother to reply, simply looks at him with cool eyes.

"Didn't expect it from you, that's all. The guy who's always goin' on about the purity of blood. What's changed that? She ain't much to look at, so I ain't figurin' on her looks."

Sesshomaru turns his head slightly, looks back the way she went. "She is unique," he says at last.

Inuyasha leans back against the tree, contemplating for a second. "Huh," he says. "Congratulations." And then he leaves, goes back to the tavern, and simply sits there, staring at his sake, wondering when the _hell_ his brother got so damn _domesticated._

_End_


	70. Retelling

_Retelling_

"Inuyasha, he's your father!"

"I never knew him!" Inuyasha snaps. "Ain't no father to me!"

Sango plants her hands on her hips and glares. "And you are unwilling to make peace!"

"So what? He's the one who fucked up and died! He abandoned her!" He clamps his mouth shut, as he had not meant to add the last.

"He had no choice!" Myoga says furiously, leaping onto Inuyasha's nose. "The dragon Ryyokossei threatened his lands! Do you think, if Ryyokossei had invaded, he would have let you and your mother live?"

Inuyasha scowled and smushed Myoga against his nose. "I ain't got nothin' to say to him," he mutters, and settles back to sulk.

Myoga makes a small, pained sound as he reinflates. "And it was not Lord Inutaisho who Ryyokossei was going to slay first!" the flea continues, once he has resumed his normal size. "And my Lord felt his responsibility keenly."

"Yeah?" Inuyasha asks sarcastically, trying to cover his interest. "And who was the old man so worried about protecting?"

Myoga says nothing, merely glares. Then bursts out, "If you want to know, maybe you should talk to your father, you ungrateful son!" And then leaps away angrily, burying into Kirara's fur.

Inuyasha leaps to his feet angrily, storming away. "Where are you going?" Shippo calls.

"Away from you traitors!" he yells, and flees into the forest.

It takes him longer to find his father than he thought it would. He simply sits for a long moment, glaring at the back of his father's head. His hair is silver, like Inuyasha's, but the long tail of hair more reminds him of Sesshomaru. It is neat and tended, and Inuyasha never takes the time for such things.

Eventually, his father glances back over his shoulder, arches one eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Look, I ain't here to apologize," he snaps.

"Then why are you here, Inuyasha?"

He snorts. "So you do know my name."

"Of course I know your name. I named you."

"I don't remember you."

"No. I died the night you were born."

There is another moment of silence before Inuyasha bursts out, "I don't know what you want!"

"Want?" his father echoes, voice soft. "I want back all the years I missed. I want to know my sons."

"You know Sesshomaru."

"Do I?"

Inuyasha blinks. "Well, don't you?"

"No. He is his mother's son, not mine."

There is another moment of silence. "Oh." More time passes, and Inuyasha clears his throat and mutters to his feet. "Myoga said some stuff."

"Myoga has never known when to be silent," his father replies calmly.

"He said that you went to fight Ryyokossei because he was threatening your lands. And because he wouldn't have let your family live if he'd gotten it."

"Of course not. I was his enemy. Had he taken my lands, your mother would have been among the first to die."

"He also said he threatened someone you cared about. That...you died for us. For your family."

"Yes. It was not my life he wanted, merely my pain." His voice hardened. "He could attack me if he wished, but I would not allow him to attack my son."

"He was gonna kill Sesshomaru?"

"It was his plan. I doubt he would have been able to. Sesshomaru was very powerful, even then."

"_You_ couldn't kill him."

Inutaisho glances back, one eyebrow arched, his expression faintly amused. "Is that what they say? That I sealed Ryyokossei because I lacked the power to slay him?"

"Didn't you?" Inuyasha challenges. "All I know is that you left me with that damn demon to slay."

His father shrugs, apparently unconcerned. "Since you live still, it was apparently within your ability. I sealed Ryyokossei for many reasons. That was simply not among them."

"But Myoga and Totosai said --"

"Myoga and Totosai say whatever suits them," Inutaisho replies dryly. "They were not there, and so they do not know the truth."

"Then why the hell did you just seal him? Why not kill him?"

Inutaisho shrugs. "He had threatened my family, my lands, everything I held dear. I wanted him to suffer. He could see the world, watch it move around him, yet do nothing. It was a fitting punishment."

Inuyasha's jaw dropped. "You sealed him like that 'cause he pissed you off?"

His father thinks about that, then laughs slightly. "Partially. Not alone, but yes. I probably would not have survived the battle, and Izayoi needed me. I would not have been able to return to her."

"Yeah, you did a smashing job there," he mutters.

"Did they tell you how I died?" Inutaisho asks.

"From the wounds you got from Ryyokossei."

"Partially. Your mother was in danger -- in fact, Takemaru had already slain you both. He... you could say he loved your mother, in his own way, and saw me as his opponent for her affections. She did not love him, so he took his revenge the only way he knew how."

"I was _dead_? That's impossible! I'm still here."

"Tenseiga was mine before it was Sesshomaru's."

"You...used it?"

"Yes. Your mother was very precious to me, Inuyasha. As were you. I could not allow you to die."

"And if you'd taken the time to kill Ryyokossei..."

"You would have been beyond my reach." He pauses, looking out. "I had not the power to use my sword without dying. I did what I had to. Takemaru died with me."

"She was alone," Inuyasha says, his voice hard.

"Yes," Inutaisho replies. "And I regret that."

"The villagers nearly drove us out."

"But they did not."

Inuyasha shakes his head. "I asked. Mother said...someone did something for her, but she would never tell me who."

"Sesshomaru."

Silence. Then, "How do you know?"

"Because it is what he would do. He was not fond of your mother, nor you, but he would not see either of you harmed by humans. If they had, he would have slain them."

"Yeah, that sounds more like the Sesshomaru I know," Inuyasha mutters.

His father laughs. "You do not know Sesshomaru," he returns dryly. "No one does."

"Yeah," Inuyasha replies. Then, "What's with the kid?"

"I have no idea."

Inuyasha sits in silence, watching his father.

And he realizes he has no idea what to say. And maybe, just maybe -- he doesn't need to say anything.

_End_


	71. You Do Know

You _Do _Know

It began as it always did -- an exchange of insults, followed by an exchange of blows.

Kagome lets out a frustrated scream and storms away. "God! Grow up! You're so immature!"

Koga smirks. "Guess she told you, eh?"

"I believe," Miroku says calmly, "that was directed at _both_ of you."

"Someday," Koga says, ignoring Miroku, "she's gonna realize just how useless a half-breed is."

Inuyasha sneers. "You do realize, any kids you have with Kagome -- not that you're ever gonna -- would be half-breeds?"

Koga's jaw drops, and he stares at his rival for a long moment. He has known this, on some level, it has simply never occured to him.

"Feh," Inuyasha says, turns his back, and bounds away, content that his barb has found its mark.

_End_


	72. Nervous

Ayame has noticed something...

Ever since Kagome went back to her own time, her own land, Inuyasha and Koga have fought a lot more.

But that's not the important thing.

The important thing is, that since Kagome is no longer taking up all of Koga's thoughts, her presence tends to make him nervous. If she stands too close, he inches away, trying not to be obvious about it.

Ginta and Hakkaku are taking bets as to how long he'll last.

She thought once that perhaps he would remember his promise to her once he realized that Kagome would never love him.

She thinks perhaps he remembers.

And she thinks, she hopes, that now, now that he remembers, now that he knows she loves him, he will let himself love her, too.

And if not...watching him blush and stutter and make nervous excuses is a source of endless entertainment.

_End_


	73. Revenge

There were many frightening things he could catalogue throughout the centuries of his life -- however, he would say that by far the worst was seeing So'unga in the hand of his younger son.

Sesshomaru appears utterly unsurprised.

Inutaisho is cursing Totosai and Myoga and Saya.

He would demand Sesshomaru's help, but he knows it's a useless request -- his son will no more aid him in this than he would have in saving Izayoi.

In fact, he would not be surprised if Sesshomaru attempted to beat him to So'unga and wrest it from his younger son's grasp.

And when Sesshomaru turns his back and walks away, Inutaisho is not surprised.

However, when Takemaru orders them to take the little girl, he is surprised by his elder son's rage. And he manages, through some verbal abuse, to enlist the aid of his younger son.

He is surprised, however, when Inuyasha turns on him and snaps, "So who the hell was Takemaru, anyway?"

He can feel his face close off. "He was a human warrior."

"Sesshomaru said he had some kinda connection to me. What's that?"

"Inuyasha," the monk interjects, "are you sure it is entirely wise to merely take Sesshomaru's word for something such as this?"

"Sesshomaru does not lie," Inutaisho says flatly. "He has no use for untruths."

Inuyasha glares at him. "So what the hell is this Takemaru's connection to _me_?"

"It is not to you, but to...your mother." He does not speak her name -- cannot, as yet. "He loved her."

Inuyasha blinks at him. "Huh?"

Inutaisho sighs. "It is not Sesshomaru's life Takemaru wants -- nor is it So'unga's greatest desire. They want my blood."

"Yeah? So?"

He shrugs. "So my blood they shall have."

"You don't have a weapon," Inuyasha argues.

Inutaisho looks at him, and smiles slowly. "Do I need one?"

Inuyasha just gapes at him. Inutaisho leaves them before the younger demon can formulate a reply.

He will not explain that he is not going to this battle merely for Sesshomaru's sake -- although the boy is a part of it, perhaps the largest.

Takemaru owes him a life. He does not seek revenge for the end of his own life, but for Izayoi...he would do much more.

_End_


	74. The Deciding Factor

"How _could_ you?" she demands, nearly in his face.

"What are you _talking_ about?" he yells back, now nose-to-nose with her. "If you're gonna yell at me, the least you could do is make some _sense_!"

"You left us alone to run off to Kikyo!" she screams. "Just like always!"

He gapes at her, his jaw hanging open. "...What? Are you _stupid_?"

She turns her back, so he can't see the tears in her eyes. "I guess that answers all my questions," she says stiffly.

"You little _idiot_!" he explodes. "I went to say goodbye! Did you expect me to just forget about her? I loved her!" He takes a deep breath through his teeth. "I loved Kikyo for a long time, Kagome. She was the first person besides my mother who treated me like somebody who didn't deserve to be put down 'cause I had demon blood. But that was all. I just...I just went to say goodbye."

"Huh!" she says. "I don't know why," she adds, in a little voice. "I mean...Naraku's gone. You can be with her now."

"Oh, you little...how can you go to school so much and still be so _dumb_?" he says.

She spins, and opens her mouth to deliver the _words_.

She never has a chance. He grips her arms, yanks her against him, and kisses her.

And she is completely unable to respond.

After a long moment, he lets her go, breathing hard, his face flushed, obviously embarrassed, but not regretting. "Next time you think I'm runnin' off to Kikyo, maybe that'll make you think again," he snaps, turns, and bounds into the forest.

Kagome sits down hard, staring after the retreating flashes of red. _Maybe he doens't love Kikyo after all..._

_End_


	75. Father

_Father_

At first he is angry. How _dare_ she take off like this, without a word to anyone? It is so like her, to make demands of her privacy, to leave without saying where she's going or at least _that_ she's going.

The anger does not last long, for although she is strong, and a more than capable warrior, she is carrying his heir.

He nearly tears his hair out in frustration, because when Yukishima hides, she does a more than adequate job.

It takes him two days of nearly constant searching to find her. Which should have been impossible, given the sheer size of the lady's natural form. But she has found a safe place to curl up, and when he stalks into the clearing, ready to give her a piece of his mind, he is frozen in place, because she is not alone.

There is a pup curled up at her side, his eyes closed. His fur is purely white, like his mother's, and the markings on her face are nearly identical.

He approaches slowly, barely reacting when Yukishima raises her head and growls. When she snaps at him, however, he takes notice. "I have done it your way for far too long," he says, coldly, because he is now angrier than he was before. "He is my son, as well."

He kneels down next to the pup, gently strokes the hair between his ears. The head raises slowly, the eyes blinking at him. It only takes a moment before he is calm enough in his father's presence to close his eyes and go back to sleep. "He knows me," he murmurs, with a smile.

He rises to his feet, gives his wife a cool look. "Return when you are able," he says. "I would speak with you."

But as he leaves, he realizes his anger is gone, replaced by an almost giddy wonder.

He is a father. And that, more than anything, makes him forgive her slights and insults over the last months.

He is a father.

_End_


	76. Hesitant

_Hesitant_

She approaches him hesitantly. She's apparently very nervous, although he cannot understand why.

She still seems almost constantly surprised by the fact that she is his wife. Although he cannot figure out why she would be so hesitant to approach him, unless something was wrong.

She hesitates again, then sighs. "I have something I need to tell you," she admits.

"I had thought as much," he replies. "What troubles you?"

"It's not a trouble," she says. "...Exactly."

"Then what is it?"

She blows out a breath, sighs. "Congratulations," she says, smoothing a hand over her belly. "I waited until I was sure...but you're going to be a father."

"I see."

"I...see," she repeats. "Is that good or bad?"

He shrugs slightly. "I would consider this excellent news."

She visibly relaxes. "Oh. That's good. That's very good."

"What else would I think?" he asks.

"I don't know," she mutters. "It's hard to tell, with you."

"And you?"

"I'm..." She stops, apparently deep in thought. "I don't know what I am, either."

"I would hope you are at least happy."

"Of course I am," she says. "With a side of petrified."

"You have nothing to fear, Kiare."

She frowns, pressing both hands to her belly, rubbing gently. "What if I screw up?"

"You will not," he says softly. "You will be an excellent mother."

She smiles up at him. "Thank you."

Gently, he tugs her into his arms and holds her, giving her the reassurance she needs. And although he will not admit it, not even to her, he is afraid himself. But he will not fail her.

Or their child.

_End_


	77. Surprise

_Surprise_

The first thing out of his mouth -- "Mine? What do you mean, _mine_? Sesshomaru, don't walk away from me!"

"Uh, Uncle Yash?" Ichiro says. "She kinda...looks like you."

"Yeah, but that's...im...possible..." he trails off, and stops to stare at Kagome.

"Took him a minute," Ichiro says.

"And you're surprised?" Taisho replies.

The pregnant woman -- apparently their mother -- claps her hands sharply. "All right, boys," she says warningly. "Be nice."

"I was!" Ichiro protests.

"I wasn't," Taisho mutters.

"KAGOME!"

"Ow. I'm sitting right here!"

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" he demands frantically.

"I was going to! I was waiting for the right moment!"

"The _right moment_? Something like 'By the way, Inuyasha, we have a _kid_?'"

Etsu, upset from all the yelling, starts to cry.

Before Kagome can reach for her, the other woman plucks her neatly out of Ichiro's arms and starts to soothe her. "It's all right," she says softly, stroking the little girl's back. "I've had practice. And I think I need to get back in the habit."

"What's wrong with it?" Inuyasha demands.

The woman -- Kagome realizes she still doesn't know her name -- gives him a withering look. "She," she says shortly. "And she may not have the demon blood you do, Inuyasha, but she does have sensitive ears. Not to mention the fact that yelling upsets any child."

"Oh," he says, voice small. "Uh, is she OK?"

"She'll be fine," she says, wiping tears off Etsu's face. "Won't you?"

The little girl hiccups and gives her a shy smile.

"Mom's a sucker for babies," Ichiro says. "She goes nuts every time Koga has one, too."

"Koga? Koga's still around? And married? He married Ayame, right?"

Ichiro nods. "Yeah. And they have about a gazillion kids."

"Six," she corrects.

Kagome grins. "I knew it!"

Inuyasha speaks through clenched teeth. "Excuse me? Can I talk to you for a minute, Kagome?"

"Sure," she says. "What about --"

"The kid'll be fine," he snaps. "Kiare can watch over her. She knows what she's doin'. And Sessh is fine with kids."

Kagome looks doubtful.

"When he's not eating his own young," Kiare adds dryly.

"We've been trying to break him of the habit," Taisho adds, with a perfectly straight face.

Kagome gives up, and follows Inuyasha.

"Why the HELL didn't you TELL ME?" he demands, the instant their outside.

"I was going to!"

"Oh, yeah? When? When the runt graduated college?"

"Don't call her a runt! She has a name!"

"Well, gee, Kagome, I'd call her by name, except I don't know what it is! Because you didn't tell me!"

She blinks. "It's Etsu," she says, in a very small voice. "And I was going to...I just didn't know how. You were so angry when I saw you last..."

"Saw me last? Kagome, that was five hundred years ago!"

"Actually, it was only a few months ago, remember?" she replies.

"For you, maybe," he shoots back. "For me...Kagome, it's been a helluva lot longer."

"Well, you didn't exactly come looking for me," she replies.

He stares at his feet. "I was...I didn't know how you were gonna react," he mutters. "I didn't think you'd wanna see me."

"But why..."

"'Cause I'd pissed you off, too, remember? And it was only a coupla months ago."

"Why didn't you come see me?" she asked.

"I was gonna," he admits. "Soon as I got up the guts."

"Well, I was gonna tell you about Etsu...as soon as I got up the guts," she replies, smiling slightly. "If you'd come by the shrine, you would've seen I was...well, kinda chunky."

He shrugs. "I took off. Me and the brats."

"You and...Sesshomaru's kids?"

"Yeah."

"And what is up with that?" she demands. "You two hated each other!"

"Still do," he says immediately. "We just...work around it. Or something. I don't know."

She grabs his hand and drags him back inside. "You have to hold her," she says. "And she has to get to know you."

"What? What? Why?"

"Because you're her father, stupid!" She shoves him into a chair, takes Etsu, and settles the little girl onto his lap.

She looks up at Inuyasha and grins. He looks down at her with an absolutely terrified expression, one that only deepens as Kagome starts to explain things to him.

The expression on his face is very easily read. It says _Oh, my God, I have a kid. What do I do with a kid?_

_End_


End file.
